Crepuscular Light
by Talamack
Summary: When Izzy Swan becomes too much trouble for her mother to handle, she's sent to live with her father in the small town of Forks. Will the strange Cullen family with their stalker-ish son Edward make things more interesting for the smoking, drinking rebel?
1. Kicked Out

**I always had a small problem with the Twilight series: Bella. In this story, I'm going to give the girl a personality. And an annoying one at that. Let's see how she reacts to everything now.**

**Also, does anyone else find it strange that Bella never had any friends in Phoenix? Or none that were mentioned anyway.**

--

"Now this isn't going to be a full time thing,"my mum tried to convince me as we both wandered into the airport. "Just for a couple of years, until you go to college."

"Uh huh."

"It's only because your school work will be affected if you were moving around all the time."

"Uh huh."

"And your father hasn't seen you in so long. Its about time the two of you got together."

"Uh huh. Do you think that Starbucks has the muffins I like?" Not waiting for my mother's surprise, I turned and started moving over to the small Starbucks, rolling my bag behind me. In reality, I didn't care if they had muffins or not, I just wanted Mum to shut up. We both knew why she was sending me away from my life in Phoenix to live with my dad in the damp little town of Forks. She just couldn't handle me any more. I wasn't what you'd call the perfect daughter, I was more of a little hell-raiser. I smoked, I drank, I turned my music up full blast and I had a fondness for partying all night. Mix that with my bad grades, bad mouth and crazy friends, and you have the reason why I was being kicked out. Mum could say that her husband's new job was the reason I was leaving, but we both knew that was bullshit. Now I was Dad's problem. Bad luck, Dad.

"Blueberry muffin, please,"I asked the man behind the counter. I saw him glance at my hair when he was getting the muffin for me and I tossed my head to give him the full show. I never said I didn't like to show off. "Thanks,"I smiled, taking the little cake and walking back to where Mum was standing in the middle of the airport.

"Well,"she said. "I suppose you should make your way over to the gate then. No point in standing around."

"IZZY!" The chorus of voices echoed through the building, making Mum's face go slightly paler than it already was. The reason for this became clear when four people rammed into me and started talking in very loud voices.

"Izzy, you were going to leave without telling us!"cried my best friend, Amy. She buried her face into my shoulder, hitting my face with the mini black top hat she had tied onto her head.

"You can't go without saying anything first, you bitch,"frowned Jason, ruffling my hair as he spoke. His black hair was teased in a way that resembled Edward Scissorhands, as usual.

"Yeah, do you want us to die of sorrow?"Lewis asked, resting his head on my other shoulder. He didn't have a mini top-hat to hit my face, but the row of bright blue spikes worked just as well.

"'Cause if you don't, then you'll have to stay here,"Steven told me, taking my face in both of his hands and blinking out at me past the flop of hair in his face.

"I can't stay here,"I told them with a scowl. "I have to go to Forks to live with my Father."

"No you don't, you can live with me,"Amy said, keeping her head clamped to my shoulder. "We've got plenty of spare rooms."

"Or you live at my place,"Steven said. "It's not as big as Amy's house, but my mum's cooking is great."

"Sorry guys,"I told them, shaking my head. "I can't."

"Can't or won't?"Lexis pouted.

"She _can't_,"Mum snapped, pulling my arm to get me away from my friends. "I'm sorry you're going to miss Izzy, but she has to catch a plane now and the reason she didn't tell any of you was to avoid a scene."

"Actually, I didn't tell you because Mum threatened to steal my phone, iPod and car money if I did,"I corrected. Mum shot me a resigned look, but I ignored her.

"I'm gonna miss you, Iz,"Steven said, pulling me into a tight hug.

"Farewell my rare and radiant maiden whom the angels named Lenore,"Jason said with a grin, tugging my ear.

"Jeez, we get it, you like Edgar Allen Poe,"Lewis sighed, hugging me. "But I'll miss you too girl."

"Promise you'll get your skinny ass back here to visit,"Amy demanded, grabbing me by the shoulders.

"Promise _you'll_ get your _Lolita_ ass up there to visit,"I told her. She nodded and then turned away to wipe at her eyes.

"Come on Izzy, you're going to miss your plane,"Mum insisted pointedly, tugging on my arm. In annoyance, I stepped away and picked up all my bags.

"Bye guys,"I sighed, pouting slightly. "I'll email you."

"You better,"Amy snapped, stamping her booted foot.

With a small smile, I turned and walked away to the gate. I was definitely going to miss those four idiots I called my friends. Steven was the loner at the back of the maths class with a mop of greasy hair hanging over his face all the time. It was a miracle he could see where he was going. Oh yeah, and he's gay and loves eyeliner. As for Lewis, he had a strange fetish for leather and spent ages every morning gelling his hair up into a row of blue spikes. Jason was the eloquent, English goth with ratty black hair and huge boots. Then Amy, well she was my best friend and the sweetest thing I've ever met. Her father's in the oil business and her family's richer than God, and since she's an only child, she's spoilt. Fortunately, she doesn't rub our noses in it, but she always lets us know when her Daddy's shipped a new Lolita dress from Japan. Lucky bitch. We were all the outcasts at our school, and that was the glue that held us together. I definitely wasn't going to let my moving several thousand kilometres change anything.

Of course, the incredibly long plane ride left me tired and grumpy, so I wasn't in the best of spirits when I got off at Washington. Perhaps my dad, or Charlie as I called him, could sense this as he didn't say very much during the drive back to his house. Just looked at me nervously, as though I was going to throw open the car door and jump in front of a passing truck. But that wasn't going to happen. Yeah, I was pissed that I had to move, but I wasn't suicidal.

"So have you thought about what you'll do up here?"he asked after a long period of silence.

"No not really,"I shrugged, looking out the window.

"Any plans about getting a car?"

"Uh..."

"Because I've already bought you a truck from my friend Billy Black. Do you remember him?"

"Mm..."

"It's a nice vehicle, very sturdy and really cheap. You'll only have to pay for gas."

"Yup..."

He gave up after that, thank God. Then we got to the house and I saw the car Charlie had got me. It was big, red and hideous. An ancient, run down piece of crap. I was going to have to drive it? Oh great.

"Do you like it?"Charlie asked hopefully, desperate to please.

"Oh, it's uh..." I floundered for a word. "It certainly looks sturdy." I left at that, leaving Dad in the driveway. "I'll be in my room, assume I don't want dinner,"I called out to him as I unlocked the door with the key hidden in the eaves and stepped into the house. For that first evening I didn't want to talk to anyone. I just wanted to kick off my boots, throw myself down on my bed and deafen myself by playing a CD at full volume.

The room was like I remembered it, right down to the threadbare rug on the floor. I remembered coming here years and years ago and staying in this room over the Summer holidays. The horrible memories of grey Julys came flooding back to me as I thumped my bags down. Looking around, I realised that the only thing which had changed was me. Back then I'd been a five-year-old girl with curly brown hair and a love of ponies. Now I was a seventeen-year-old girl with black and purple hair and a love of platform boots.

I looked out the window at the grey world. Knowing Charlie, he'd told everyone he could that his daughter was coming, not realising the kind of person I was now. I knew that Forks was going to be in for a shock when it met Izzy Swan. Stupid small town won't know what hit it.


	2. First Day

**Here's the second chapter for everyone! Woot! I hope it's as good as the first chapter. Anyway, in this segment you get to see Izzy's reaction to the Cullen family. Read on. And if you have any criticism then please tell me in a review.**

--

It took me about thirty minutes to get dressed the next morning. Ten minutes to get into the ripped black tights, red tartan tutu and black t-shirt with spider web design. Five minutes to brush my black and purple hair out. And fifteen minutes to put my boots on. They're the big black boots with laces that go all the way up to the knees. I mean, they look brilliant, but are a demon to put on. So when I meandered down to the kitchen in search of matches, I had about twenty minutes before school started.

The reason I was looking for matches? Well, my mum was having one last try at stopping me from smoking, so she took all my cigarettes and my lighter from my bag just before we set off for the airport. Luckily, one of my friends had foreseen this and had managed to cram a huge carton of the things into my suitcase. My guess is that it was Lewis with his nimble, leather-clad fingers. Only problem was that he'd forgotten to give me a lighter, so I was praying that Charlie had matches. When the search of the kitchen yielded nothing, I decided to stick a cigarette into one of the rings on the top of the oven. That did the trick. Then, grabbing an apple and my coat I made my way out to the stupid truck to go to school. Charlie was already at work, so I didn't have to explain the whole cigarette thing.

The big piece of junk I was forced to drive started with a loud snarl as I turned the key in the ignition. Jamming my foot down on the pedal, the thing jerked forward and rumbled out into the road. I must have looked strange driving along in the huge hunk of red, alternately taking a bite out of the apple and a small suck on the cigarette. When I got to the fairly unnoticeable high school, both of these things were almost finished so I casually dropped them to the ground as I jumped out the vehicle. School was going to start in about five minutes and a lot of students were milling about, so I got a lot of strange looks as I walked up to the school door. My black coat stood out quite a bit, what with it being full length with strips of red down the back. It used to be Jason's, but he gave it to me when he got bored with it. It's full of little hidden pockets and I was always finding things over the first few weeks of owning it. One pocket I was happy to learn contained a packet of what looked like oregano, but definitely wasn't. Man was I going to miss that guy.

"Excuse me,"I called to the woman behind the desk when I stepped through the door. She looked up kindly at the sound of my voice, then jumped slightly when she saw me. Taking this in my stride, I continued. "I'm Isabella Swan. I'm meant to be starting school here today."

"Oh,"the woman said, trying to get her bearings. I tend to have that effect on people who first meet me. "Yes, Charlie Swan's daughter."

"That's right."

She fished behind her desk, then came out with three sheets of paper. "This is a map of the school,"she explained, placing one of the sheets on the desk. No shit. I thought that was just a picture of a random building. "And this is a sheet you have to get all of your teachers to sign. If you could just bring that back here at the end of the day. And this is your timetable."

"Okay then,"I sighed, taking both the bits of paper and walking out the door.

"Have a nice day,"the woman called after me just as the door swung closed. Yeah, yeah. Uh, let's see, what's first. Glancing down at the timetable, I saw I had English, so I wandered off in the direction of the classroom. The map was utterly pointless, as there were clear signs saying what each building was. By the time I reached the class, the bell had already gone and everyone was sitting down, so all eyes turned to me when I opened the door. Hanging my coat up on a hook by the door, I walked over to the teacher and handed him the slip of paper for him to sign. All the curious eyes followed me as I strutted (you gotta strut when you've got my ego) up to the one spare seat at the back of the class.

"Excuse me,"a voice said at the end of the lesson, making me look up. "Are you Bella Swan?"

"I prefer Izzy,"I corrected with a grin, making the black haired boy blink. He seemed nice, but I wondered what he wanted.

"My name's Eric,"he said, with a quick nod. "And I'd like to welcome you to the school and invite you to join the chess club."

"Cool,"I nodded moving swiftly through the classroom and out to the corridor, forcing Eric to hurry to keep up. "I like chess, used to play heaps back home. Yeah sure, I'll join the club. Why the fuck not."

"Oh um,"he floundered, surprised at the casual swear. God, did nobody swear in this place? I would have enjoyed discussing this with the spotty guy, but by then I got to my next class and had to step up to the teacher. Eric had this class too, so he followed me through the door before wandering off to his seat.

The rest of the classes seemed to go like that. The teachers talked, I didn't pay attention, at least one person came over and asked if I was Bella Swan. Each time I said that I was Izzy. I mean, Bella Swan? Urgh, how unbelievably cheesy would it be to have a name meaning _beautiful swan_? Not to mention the fact that I thought myself in no way beautiful. Not that anyone would think that after my trig class. That was the one in which the teacher made me introduce myself.

"Hey people,"I grinned, giving them all a nod. "I'm Izzy and I'm probably the most interesting thing you'll ever see in this place." I'm not sure what everyone's reactions were, but do I care? My teacher certainly made me sit down quickly.

I went to get lunch with a girl in my Spanish class, a bit short with curly hair and a mouth that just would not close. Didn't she know that when the person you're talking to doesn't reply, they want you to shut up? Evidently not, as she kept jabbering all the way to the canteen.

"Mmhm,"I nodded, zoning out. I didn't even notice what I bought for lunch and things only came back into focus when I found myself sitting down at a table full of people. And they were all staring at me. Okay, I have an ego and I like attention, but there is a limit.

Turning to the girl beside me, I searched my mind for her name, then said in a perfectly audible voice,"Jessica, your friends are weird. Can you get them to stop staring?" That did the trick. The whole table flushed pink, then turned away quickly and started murmuring amongst themselves. Good, leave me to my lunch. Which I just realised was a tuna sandwich. Ick, I hate tuna. Pushing the sandwich to one side of my plate, I instead surveyed the canteen. It was a sea of fairly pale faces in drab clothing eating their boring little meals. What I wouldn't give for the miscellany of people I was used to seeing back in Phoenix.

On the other side of the room I recognised chess club Eric looking back at me. He turned away quickly when he met my eyes though. Gutless. Then I noticed the only interesting table in the whole place. Five people with pale skin and angular features. A short black haired girl, a tall blonde girl, another blonde kid, a muscled boy with curly hair and a guy with a bronze mop. They all had bags under their eyes and none of them were talking. Taking them all in I said the first thing to come into my mind.

"Damn, that blonde girl is hot."

"What?"Jessica blinked, jerking her head up. She knew who I was talking about, I doubt anyone wouldn't. Those kids were all pretty fucking perfect. That wasn't what she was surprised at though. "You're looking at Rosalie?"

"Is that her name?"I mused, my head on one side. Yeah I was looking at Rosalie. Out of the whole bunch she was definitely prettiest. And besides, I always had a thing for blondes. And before you ask, yes I like girls in that way. And I like boys too. And I've had girlfriends _and_ boyfriends _and_ I'm not a virgin. There's another little reason why Mum kicked me out. I didn't think it was so big a deal, but judging by the way Jessica's eyes were popping out at me I may as well have said I was planning to burn the school down.

"Um, yeah that's her name,"Jessica nodded. "It's Rosalie Hale, Alice Cullen, Emmett Cullen, Jasper Hale and Edward Cullen."

"Is she single?"I asked, not taking my eyes off her.

"No,"Jessica said, shaking her black curls. "Rosalie is with Emmett, the black haired boy. And Alice is with Jasper." She looked at me out of the corner of her eye. "And you want to know the strange bit?"

"Why not?"

"They're all adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Cullen,"she whispered conspiratorially. "And they're all together. Except Edward."

"That ginger one?"I asked, still not looking away from Rosalie. I was already planning how I could steal her from her boyfriend. Nothing I like more than a challenge.

"Yeah,"she nodded, not noticing that I was still looking at the girl. "He's gorgeous, but he doesn't date. None of the girls here are good enough for him." Now this piqued my interest. A boy who didn't date who was just about as pretty as his adopted sister? Another challenge. My, this was going to be fun. I turned my attention to him now, setting out a plan to get his attention. Just as I did this, his face flicked up to look first at me, then at Jessica, then back at his food. I grinned at this, knowing that I had caught his eye, all be it briefly. Jessica started babbling something about how Edward had never looked up like that before, but I just zoned out again. My mind drifted off to other things, most of them involving the pretty blonde girl I was going to steal.


	3. No Chemistry Here

**Yeah, so now you're going to see Izzy's first class with Edward. And yeah, it'll be a bit different to the book.**

**Also, she's going to meet Mike and have a teeny conversation with him. Does anyone else find it weird that Bella never met any other kids who lived in Forks? You know, like Jessica, Mike, Angela. I'm sure at least one of them would have been there when she visited her dad.**

**Be sure to read and leave any comments you have in a review.**

--

The end of lunch came and I walked out of the canteen with one of Jessica's friends. She reminded me that her name was Angela. I must say, I liked her a bit more than Jess, mostly because she didn't say anything. It seemed she was too shy to talk, something I admired her for. No need to clutter the air with words. Unless they're important words of course. So, in a comfortable silence I moseyed out to Biology, one of my favourite lessons. Well, I'm good at it.

When we reached the classroom, Angela went to sit down and I handed my pink slip to the teacher. He just signed it and handed it back to me, telling me to find an empty seat. Now, here's where it got interesting. Who do you think the last empty seat was next to? No, it wasn't Rosalie, but it was the next best thing. Her non-dating brother: Edward. So, with a grin I walked up and sat down next to him.

The only thing was, he acted in a very strange way. I smiled at him in a genuinely friendly way (no need to alienate the hot guy, he could introduce me to his sister) and all he did was hunch over the desk and not look up at me. Now come on, when someone smiles at you the least you can do is acknowledge them. But that wasn't the worst part, oh no. He has the nerve to wrinkle his nose, like I smell bad. Feeling self-conscious (a very strange feeling) I sniffed a lock of my hair. It smelled of my perfume, a dark smoky scent that reminded me of a forest fire, and then there was a slight undertone of cigarette. Still, it was mild enough to ignore so there was no need to pointedly wrinkle your nose. Looking at the sullen person beside me, I raised one eyebrow. Then I flicked my hair in annoyance and listened to what the teacher was saying.

Ah, it was a lecture. A lecture on something I'd already done back in Phoenix. With a small sigh, I sunk my head down onto my hand and prepared to drift through the rest of the lesson. Except I was distracted by Edward beside me. He was shifting away from me in his chair and gripping the table leg with one hand, as if trying to restrain himself. With yet another sigh I turned away from him, deciding not to give him any attention. If he was going to act like a child then I would treat him like a child. I'd ignore the stupid thing until he stopped playing up. At least, that's how _I_ treat kids. Don't you?

When the biology teacher flicked the lights back on I straightened up and looked round at my lab partner. He gave me a dark look with even darker eyes and swept out of the room before I could say anything. Running my fingers through my hair I picked up my bag and got to my feet. Then another person came over to talk to me, but I managed to speak before he did.

"Hello, nice to meet you. Yes, I'm Charlie Swan's daughter, but I prefer being called Izzy, not Bella,"I said with a grin to the blonde kid in front of me. He opened and closed his mouth a couple of times like a little fish, wondering what to say. Finally, I offered,"What's _your_ name?"

"Oh, I'm Mike. Mike Newton." He smiled a bit and nodded. "I'm not actually sure if you remember me, but we used to play together in the park when we were younger."

I frowned and looked at him, trying to remember. Then it came to me. A little blonde boy with a fire truck t-shirt sitting in a sandpit with me. He made castles and I knocked them all down. Good times.

"Oh yeah,"I nodded, thinking back. "Yeah I remember you. Didn't I once push you into the pond?"

"Yeah, yeah you did." He looked down at his shoes nervously. "That was me. Anyway, what do you have next?"

"PE."

"Cool me too,"he grinned at me. Then the two of us walked out of Biology to the gym. Now, I've never been very athletic so the idea of another year of PE didn't exactly thrill me. Luckily though, I didn't have to do anything that first day so I just sat and watched everybody else. I was glad of this because I'd spend most of the lesson fiddling with my boots if I had to change into a PE kit. But I didn't have to do anything at all, so I left that last lesson in good spirits and wandered off to reception to hand back the slip all my teachers signed.

But who do you think I ran into?

Stepping into the reception I was met with Edward Cullen's back as he spoke to the woman behind the desk. I was just about to lay my paper on the desk when I caught a snippet of what he was saying. The bastard was trying to get out of biology. I couldn't believe it. He acts like a freak all through the lesson for no reason, then tries to get into another class. Jeez, what does this guy have against me? Is it my appearance? Prejudice. I tell you, I had half a mind to rearrange that pretty face of his. So that's what I set about doing.

"I just want another class,"he was saying. "Any other Biology teacher will do." I stepped up behind him and placed the piece of paper down on the desk with just a little bit of force. He whirled around and came face to face with me, making his eyes widen, then narrow.

"Never mind, I can see it is impossible,"he muttered through gritted teeth. Then, pushing me to one side he swept out of the room, scaring a girl just coming through the door. Muttering a few choice swear words under my breath I left the reception and headed back out to my hideous truck.

-

When I got home I had calmed down a bit and even managed a smile when I lit a cigarette on the stove. Carrying the cigarette up to my room I flicked on the computer to check my e-mails. Unfortunately it was an old computer and by the time it managed to flicker on I'd already had enough time to get my boots off. Gritting my teeth to avoid yelling at the stupid machine, I clicked on the e-mail and started reading through them.

_**Izzy!**_

_**Missed you at school today, nothing's the same without you. Need your annoyed sighs to make things worth while. I'm a lonely girl :( What's been going on in Forks? If you hate it, be sure to move back down here. Kay?**_

_**Amy. xoxoxoxo**_

Yeah, that was Amy alright. She'd never stop trying to get me to move in to her house. And I wouldn't mind actually, it's a great house.

_**Iz, I miss you sooooooooooo much right now, it's not even funny. I couldn't even concentrate on what I was doing in Art class. I'm too sad to paint and sew! SEE WHAT YOU'VE DONE TO ME!!!!!**_

Now that was definitely Steven. He's the only person I know who sews and only he would try and guilt me into coming back.

_**Izzy.**_

_**You owe me one, you know that don't you? What with me slipping those cigarettes into your luggage when we were at the airport. Listen, you ever need anything then be sure to ask me, I'll hook you up no problem. Miss talking to you.**_

_**Lewis.**_

I'd been right, Lewis had saved my like with the smokes. Had to give it to him, he had nimble fingers.

_**Izzy.**_

_**How are things up there? Been the same old boring events over here. Nothing new to report really. Well, except that everyone is really upset at your departure, but I'm sure you've gathered as much from their electronic mail. I'm missing you too of course. Simply cannot wait for a visit in which I can see your beautiful face again. Be sure to write back with your news.**_

_**Jason.**_

Of course Jason had been the calmest e-mail. He was never one to be really forward with his emotions. That was more Amy's and Steven's style. Smiling at my friends' words I moved on to the next e-mail and groaned.

_**Isabella.**_

_**I hope you're behaving yourself and haven't been bothering your father too much. And I hope you've been having lots of fun and making lots of friends. Be sure to be kind and polite to everyone and write back to tell me what you're doing. Please try to stop smoking, it's bad for your health, and concentrate in school. I'm sorry if the weather's awful, but that's just the way things are. Remember to be happy, Izzy and smile. I love you, you know that. Oh, by the way, I've been packing for my move, but I can't find my pink blouse. Do you know where it might be?**_

This was, of course my mum. She'd sent me an e-mail telling me to be good and have fun, then finished off with an 'I love you'. And that thing about the blouse? Probably implying that I'd stolen it. Yup, that was my mum. And, knowing her, she'd probably be on edge until she got an e-mail back. It would be a kindness to reply as quickly as possible, just mean if I responded to my friends first.

_**Amy,**_

_**Miss you too. Can't believe how far...**_


	4. Snowball Fights and Fist Fights

**Haven't been able to get to my stories lately, too much has been going on. I've tried to study (emphasis on tried), I've had writer's block and now my cousins are over and we spent the last three days going for walks. And to top it all off I've got to start school tomorrow and when I get back I'll be babysitting my neighbour's four kids. It will not be a good week...**

--

I arrived at school the next day in a seething, dangerous mood, looking forward to my Biology lesson and the conversation I was planning to have with my lab partner. You see, I had spent the previous evening thinking over what the way he'd acted and how I'd heard other people talk about him and I'd come to the conclusion that his behaviour was out of the ordinary. I didn't know if it was my problem or his, but either way I had a few choice words for him. I'd even spent a few minutes that morning glaring at my reflection in the mirror to get my expression just perfect.

There was just one small problem. He wasn't there.

Yup, I'd gone through all my mental preparation only to find that my target was absent. The rest of his family were at school, but not him. I was incredibly annoyed at this hiccup, but used the opportunity to examine Rosalie without his big head getting in the way. Besides, I told myself, he'd be there the next day. Only, he wasn't. And he wasn't there on the day after that either. For the rest of the week, Edward Cullen was off school. How annoying.

I had to wait for Monday.

My English lesson passed quickly as I was talking to Mike about something (I can't remember what it was, just that it wasn't English related). Then when we came out of the classroom I found that there was a whole heap of white stuff falling from the sky. I looked up at it curiously, letting some of it fall on my face.

"Cool, it's snowing,"Mike said, making me blink in surprise. This stuff was snow? Wow. I'd never seen snow before. Hey, I'm from Arizona.

"Snow? Really?" I looked round at the white stuff covering the ground and scooped up a handful. "Cool."

I'm sure my blonde companion would have replied, but he was prevented from doing so by a snowball hitting him in the back of the head. I burst out laughing at the expression on his face, then threw the snow I was holding at the culprit. Before I knew it, everyone was hurling the wet stuff at each other, class completely forgotten, and I was right in the thick of it. It was my first snowball fight. It was the greatest thing I'd ever experienced. All right, it was a bit gross when we were pushed into class again and the snow started melting and sliding down your neck, but still. Awesome.

And so, that lunchtime I was to be found running into the canteen a few minutes later than normal with snow covering my hair and sticking to my face. My absolutely ecstatic face. Mike tumbled in after me, snow covering his whole body and the two of us stood laughing for a few moments before heading off to get food. I tell you, snowball fights made me hungry. So, after piling my plate high I sat down at my normal table, water droplets rolling off me onto the floor. It was when I took a bite out of my pizza that I saw him.

On the other side of the canteen, laughing at his adopted brother shaking water droplets off his hair onto his adopted sisters, Edward Cullen was sitting. He wasn't looking round at me and he wasn't eating anything, and as soon as I saw him my blood began to boil. If he was back at school then he'd be in Biology. And if he was in Biology then I would be able to talk to him. This was going to be sweet.

With an evil grin I kept eating, taking my time and every so often glancing up at the Cullens. Mike was talking about organising I massive snowball fight after school, something I was determined to be part of. It would be the perfect accompaniment to my slaughtering of the Cullen boy.

I left the canteen a few minutes early, eager to get to Biology and prepare for Edward's arrival, but was met with a disappointing sight outside. The snow had been replaced with rain that was turning the pristine white to horrible slush and washing it away. Pouting at the knowledge that the snowball fight would have to be cancelled I hurried to class. Then perched in my seat facing the door.

I knew what was going to happen. He would slouch in, hunch over in his chair, act like I don't exist. I'd ask him something to which he wouldn't respond and that's when I'd start. It would be slow at first. A short, quiet question about why he wasn't talking. Then it would escalate. Before he knew what was happening, I would be glaring at him and talking in a raised voice. I'd slam a fist down on the desk, making it shudder. I'd be terrifying!

"Hello,"a voice said, interrupting my thought. I turned round to see who greeted me and was very surprised to find myself face-to-face with Edward. It seemed he had decided not to do what I had expected and instead was acting like a normal human being. Damn. I couldn't perform my piece if he was acting normally.

"Uh... Hey."

"You're Izzy Swan, aren't you?"he smiled, getting his books out and putting them on the desk.

"Yeah." Okay, I sounded like an idiot, but I was really confused. One day he was sulking like it was an Olympic sport, now he was all smiles and greetings? What was this guy on? He kept smiling and nodding, saying a few things I didn't quite catch.

"Are you high?"I asked, displaying my occasional and annoying habit of speaking without thinking. He was quite surprised at this, his eyes widening and his mouth opening and closing without saying anything.

After a few moments he choked out,"What? N- no, of course not." He looked at me like I was crazy for a few more minutes before asking,"Why?"

I shrugged. "Well it's just that you're fairly upbeat today and last week you... weren't." My attitude had disappeared completely during that short conversation (something that doesn't normally happen) and had been replaced with confusion. If he was on something then I would be able to forgive him for his behaviour. He had probably just been in need of a hit. I myself am not so pleasant when I'm not smoking. Or drinking. Which is very rare.

"Oh, well it's just that last week I was in a bad mood." He was smiling again, but it seemed forced this time and I had a sneaking suspicion that he was lying. Still, didn't really want to push it so I shut up.

Anyway, I couldn't talk much because class had started and the teacher was handing out microscopes and slides. I recognised the sheet that came along with it, having done the same exercise back in Phoenix. With a sigh and without waiting for the teacher's instructions I glanced down at all the slides in quick succession, scribbling out what they were on the sheet of paper. Then I shoved them all back in the box and sat back in my stool. Edward looked at me with a small smile.

"Um, may I see?"he asked tentatively, reaching for the slides.

"Don't you trust me?" I blinked at him with wide, innocent eyes, making him retract his hand slightly. Then I shoved the box into his hand with a grin. He had really cold hands actually. Anyway, he glanced through the microscope at the slides and nodded, saying I was correct. I knew I was. Then I noticed something odd about him.

I remembered that last week he had had really dark eyes, almost black. Well, that day his eyes were quite a light gold colour. I blinked at these for a few moments.

"Do you have coloured contacts?"I asked him.

"What? No."

"Oh." I shrugged and looked away. "It's just that last week your eyes were black so I thought maybe they were contacts. I have contacts. And a couple of my friends do. One guy has the kind that cover your whole eye." These friends were Amy and Lewis, Lewis being the one with the sclera lenses.

"Well... I don't have contacts." He seemed quite wary of me at this point, probably wondering why he'd started talking to me. I grinned at him to let him know that I was (generally speaking) harmless.

"Finished already?"the teacher asked, coming up to stand in front of our desk. He looked down at our sheet, searching for any mistake, then frowned when he found nothing. "Well . Perhaps next time you can let Miss Swan identify a few of them and not just have her write it down."

"Actually sir,"I said pointedly, narrowing my eyes at him. "I identified all five of them before Edward even got a chance."

He was taken aback at that, looking down at me in surprise. He probably thought that: girl + black and purple hair + very bored expression = bad student. There's his whole belief system thrown out the window.

He struggled for a few seconds, looking down at the two of us in confusion. Finally, he said,"Well it's a good job you two are partners." Then he turned and marched down the classroom.

I sniggered. I may have been unable to give him a mental disembowelling, but at least I'd managed to get one up on the teacher and that was just as good. Sort of.


	5. This Ice Will Be The Death Of Me

**Who's up for a near death experience? Well, here's one. Enjoy.**

--

"Well yeah, of course it's different here. It's wet for a start."

"Wet? How wet? How often does it rain?"

"Just about every day."

"Every day!"

Amy's voice shrieked in my ear, forcing me to hold the phone a few inches away. I could still hear her from that distance, babbling on about how she couldn't handle the damp. I wasn't really paying attention though, Amy could talk nonstop for hours. Instead I focused on walking down the driveway without falling over. You see, over the night the snow had been replaced with horrible dark ice which made walking difficult. Even though I was wearing my boots with the studs on the bottom.

"...And it took me ages to get my hair back to normal,"Amy was saying when I started listening again. I had no idea what she'd been saying up to this point, nor was I sure I wanted to know. I'm not one for talking about hair. I mean, it's _hair_.

"Well my hair's fine,"I told her, glancing down at it. "I just died it last night."

"Ooh, how does it look?"

"About the same." By this time I'd made my way over to my monstrosity of a truck and was trying to open the door with one hand whilst still keeping my balance. It was tricky, but somehow I managed it.

"I told you about my truck, right?"I asked, climbing into the driver's seat.

"The big red thing? Yeah, you told me." Amy's voice was laughing as she said this.

"Well just listen to it start." I held the phone up to face the engine and turned the key. It started with a satisfyingly loud growl that travelled into the phone and across to Amy in Phoenix. She squealed when she heard the engine.

"That is so loud, how can you stand it?" She sounded frantic, as if a loud engine would physically hurt me.

I shrugged, a pointless action as she couldn't see it. "I just try to ignore it."

"How can you ignore it?"she asked in a voice that was almost a yell. Again, I held the phone away from my ear. And again, I could still hear her voice. When she'd calmed down a bit I tucked the phone between my ear and shoulder and pulled the truck out into the road.

I drove to school with Amy chattering to me and only one hand on the wheel. It was probably a bit dangerous driving that hunk of metal on the ice whilst on the phone, but I liked the rush. It was kinda like a roller-coaster, but slower.

When I got to the car park I swung the truck round into a space and turned off the engine. Amy had been filling me in on everything that the boys back home had said and done. So far, I learned that Jason had aced his latest English exam, Lewis had got the pet snake he's always wanted and called it Pete, and that Stephen had submitted a dress design to a contest. I didn't know if he'd won though.

Still talking to Amy I hopped out the truck, grabbing onto the door to avoid falling. "Wah,"I exclaimed, almost dropping the phone.

"Izzy? What's wrong?" Amy's voice was scared and concerned, like a mother almost.

"Nothing,"I assured her, getting to my feet. "It's just that the ice is-"

She interrupted me. "Ice! There's ice? Oh my God, did you fall?" I smiled at her concern for me, feeling a small tear come to my eye. I moved up to the front of the truck listening to her. That's when it happened.

There was a strange screeching sound and when I looked up I saw a car sliding across the ice sideways, right in my direction. The driver had been going too fast and was spinning out of control. I blinked, not quite understanding what was happening. Amy's voice became blurred in my ear. I looked round and saw other students staring at me, but all of them were far away. I remember thinking that it was of course it was _me_ who was gonna be crushed by a car with everyone else just looking on. Then I just turned and watched the car get closer.

"Oh shit."

Just as those two words left my mouth something hard slammed into me, knocking me to the ground. Only, it was from the wrong side. It was almost as if someone pushed me to the ground and under my truck, out of harm's way. Then that same person stopped the car from slamming into me by putting their hands up to hold it back. Pretty crazy, huh?

"Izzy? Izzy, what happened? Izzy!"

I blinked a few times, trying to understand where that voice was coming from. Then I realised that I had somehow managed to keep hold of my phone and Amy was terrified.

"Hey Amy,"I said breezily. "I'm fine, just fell over. Sorry to startle you." It was about that time that I noticed there was someone leaning over me. Someone who was pale with bronze coloured hair.

"Where the hell did you come from?"

"Huh?" This was Edward, frowning down at me.

"Where did you come from?"I repeated. "You weren't here a few seconds ago."

"Yeah I was,"he said, looking at me like I was crazy. "I was right beside you, Izzy."

"No you fucking weren't,"I told him, shaking my head. "You were nowhere near me. _Everybody_ was nowhere near me."

He looked away, shaking his head. "I think you hit your head, you're not making any sense. I was next to you."

"Izzy, what's going on?"Amy piped up, showing her curiosity.

"Oh, I'm just talking to a guy in my Biology class,"I shrugged, not an easy move from my position.

"Can I say hi?"

"Uh... Okay." I held the phone up to him, saying,"My friend Amy wants to say hello."

He looked at the phone, then at me, then took it from me and held it to his ear. "Uh... Hello?"

Amy started talking to him, not realising that we were trapped under two vehicles and didn't even stop when they prized the two cars apart. Edward just handed the phone back to me wordlessly.

"I know you weren't beside me,"I told him as I took it back.

He smiled slightly, then said to one of the paramedics (yeah, there were paramedics and an ambulance) that I'd hit my head and needed a stretcher. So, they slapped something huge and white around my neck and hoisted me onto a stretcher and into the ambulance. I grinned at all the students watching us and waved, enjoying the attention.

"Excuse me,"I called to the person in the driver's seat as the door closed. They looked round, wondering if I wanted some painkillers or something. Holding up the phone, I asked,"Can I keep this on?"


	6. My Head Hearts

**I probably won't be able to update any of my stories because I've just started my exams so I'll be revising a lot. Anyway, here's a little chapter to hold you over.**

**Oh, and I've found a picture of what Izzy looks like. The link's up on my profile, check it out.**

--

Later that day I was sitting on a hospital bed with a neck brace on, humming the Super Mario Bros. song and tapping my hands against my knees. I was in a good mood for several reasons. Firstly, I was getting the day off school. Secondly, hospital is the only place you can put your boots up on the furniture and not get told off. Thirdly, I think I'd hit my head a little bit. In a nice way.

Suddenly the door opened and another bed was pushed into the ward. I looked up and recognised Tyler, the driver of the other car. He looked much worse off than me. And he was looking over at me with an incredibly apologetic expression.

"Izzy. Oh my God, I'm so sorry. Are you alright?"he asked as he was moved into the empty space behind me.

"Oh yeah, I'm fine,"I grinned. "Just hit my head a bit."

"Yeah, but I crashed my car into your truck. I could have killed you. I'm so so sorry."

"Uh huh,"I hummed. "And look at this, there's free apples." I leaned over to a little table at the next bed over where there was a bowl of red apples. Grabbing two, I leaned back up and tossed one of them across to Tyler.

"Um, Izzy I think those belong to- Oh, you're already eating it." He clutched his apple and placed it on the table next to him. I just ate my apple in large bites, letting some of the juices dribble down my chin. Then looked round at him. He was still looking at me sorrowfully.

"Just so you know, if you apologise again I'll throw this apple core at you,"I told him through the apple in my mouth. That seemed to work, he shut up. So, with a grin, I settled back in the bed and closed my eyes.

"Is she asleep?"a voice asked after a while, making me snap my eyes open. Edward was standing at the end of my bed smiling down at me.

"Edward,"Tyler said. "I am so sorry, I should have- Ow!"

"Why did you throw an apple core at him?"Edward asked, frowning slightly.

I shrugged. "I was sick of him apologising." Then I sat up straighter and looked up at him. "Why aren't you banished to a hospital bed? Weren't you in a car accident too?"

"It helps when you know people,"he shrugged with a wave of his hand, sitting down on the bed. "So, do you know when you're getting out of here?"

I thought for a moment. "Uh... They said I needed to wait for the doctor. or something. Hey, is that your dad?"

"Yes. Yes he is,"Edward nodded. Then he turned his head and added,"And there he is now."

I looked round to see who was coming and raised one eyebrow. The guy coming across the room had blonde hair, pale skin, golden eyes and perfect features. If he was the first Cullen I'd seen I would probably have gasped, blushed and probably swooned. Now though, all I could think was 'yeah, yeah, what's new'. Besides, he was old enough to be my father; he was married; and he had five kids. They were adopted, but still. There was no point swooning.

"Hey,"I greeted him, nodding. "Are you here to say if I can go home or not?"

"Yes, I am,"he nodded, moving up to stand beside his son. He looked down at the clipboard in front of him. "Well, your x-rays don't show any sign of a concussion. How do you feel?"

"I feel fantastic,"I smiled, shrugging my shoulders. "Does that mean I can go?"

"Well, you're going to have to stay off school for the rest of the day, but yes you can go. It seems that half your school are in the waiting room." He smiled at me and turned to go. Then I noticed him shoot an odd glance at Edward. I'm not sure what it meant, but I can be sure it wasn't good.

I hopped off the bed with a grin and started walking off. "Bye Tylor,"I called, waving to the beaten up guy. He gave a halfhearted wave back to me and a small smile before I swept out of the room. Edward was hot on my heels, following me down the corridor with a purpose. I let him for a while, then stopped mid-stride and spun round to face him.

"Okay, Edward, what's the deal. You were nowhere near me earlier and I know it. Don't try to deny it, just tell me what the fuck's going on."

He narrowed his eyes and looked away from me, clenching his teeth. "Izzy, please. I can't explain this just now, but I promise I will tell you everything later."

"I want to know now,"I snarled at him, crossing my arms resolutely and shooting him a dark look.

"I can't,"he said, shaking his head. "Trust me."

"Why?"I asked, tossing my head in annoyance. "I've known you for, what? A week? And now I know that some seriously weird stuff is happening and I'm just supposed to keep quiet? What's in it for me?"

"I'll buy you a CD."

"Huh?"

"Okay, five CDs and a t-shirt. Money's no object. And I'll explain eventually. Please."

"Do I get to choose the CDs?"

"Yeah."

"Deal,"I sighed, proffering my hand for him to shake. He did so, then I asked,"What was that look your father gave you?"

"What look?"

"You know what look." I turned to continue walking down the corridor, but glanced darkly over my shoulder at him.

"Uh..."he blinked. "Can I explain that later too?"

"Nope,"I snapped at him.

"Well... It's not my thoughts, it's his,"he babbled. "And he's only just met you, so it's not well founded. It's just that... Well, what you're wearing..."

He tailed off in embarrassment. I looked down to see what he meant. My boots with the spikes on the bottom; black bondage jeans with a skull belt; a black and red corset top; and a winged skull necklace. When I teemed that with my black and purple hair I could see what he meant.

"So... He thinks I'm a bad influence?"I asked, blinking in shock. Edward pursed his lips slightly. I looked up, tilting my head on one side. "Do you think I'm a bad influence?"

"No, of course not. I think you're fine,"he assured me. "It's just that dad... He's a bit strict sometimes."

"Hmm..."I mused, walking slowly down the corridor and tapping my chin. Then I shrugged. "Huh, parents will be parents."

"So it's okay?"

"You still owe me those CDs." I grinned round at him and he looked back at me with a raised eyebrow.

I didn't care what his dad thought. I could be the girl his parents had warned him about. Fun, huh?


	7. I'll Just Say No Right Now

**Hey everyone. With this chapter I am pleased to announce that my exams are over! And hopefully I did well. I even get today (Thursday), tomorrow and Monday off! It's great.**

**This chapter has quite a bit of dialogue and it's basically a bunch of people asking Izzy to the dance. You remember that chapter? Well, here it is.**

--

A few days had passed since that whole incident with the car and I was sitting in Biology next to my silent lab partner. Silent, because Edward hadn't spoken to me at all since that little conversation in the hospital. You know, the one about me keeping quiet about all the weird stuff. This confused me slightly and made me wonder if he was being quiet so that he had an excuse not to get me my CDs and t-shirt. If that was the reason then I had a few choice words for him. Anyway, that's not what I'm meant to be talking about.

You see, his silent treatment had resulted in a certain Mike Newton getting a bit bolder and so he was talking to me more often. Now, this was fine. I like Mike, he's a nice guy. It's just that I think a couple of people were getting the wrong idea. Including Mike. Because during this Biology lesson when Mike was talking to me he suddenly got a bit tongue-tied. I looked up from my seat to where he was standing next to the desk and blinked, wondering what he wanted.

"So, uh... This morning, Jessica invited me to the dance,"he said, tapping his fingertips on the desk.

"Yeah, I know,"I nodded. And I did know. The night before Jessica had called me to ask my permission. I mean, why did she need my permission? I wasn't going out with Mike, I'd never told her that I liked Mike in that way (because I didn't) and we were teenage girls. If anything, I thought we were meant to bitch and lie and steal each others boyfriends. Girls must be nicer in Forks, huh? And besides, I wasn't going to ask Mike to the dance even if I did like him. Due to my hopelessness at these kind of things, I had taken a solemn vow to never dance. Except in mosh pits of course, but that wasn't really dancing.

"Well, I said I had to think about it." Mike looked away and chewed his lower lip.

"Huh? Why? Jessica's great." I frowned at him and crossed my arms.

He was going a bit pink by this point. "I thought that perhaps _you_ might want to ask me."

All I could think at that point was _'oh crap'_. Mike had really got the wrong idea. Don't get me wrong, I was flattered, but I didn't want to hurt his feelings. "Sorry Mike, but I'm not going. I'll, uh... I'll be in Seattle that weekend,"I shrugged, smiling a bit. It was the best I could think of. "I think you should go with Jessica."

"But-"

Fortunately the teacher started talking and Mike had to scurry back to his desk so I didn't have to listen to any more of his excuses. I was glad of that. But then when I turned round I saw that Edward was staring right at me. Strange, seeing as he'd been ignoring up until now. So for the rest of that lesson I could feel his eyes on me. It was very distracting. But then, at the end of the lesson something even more unexpected happened.

"Izzy?" Edward caught up with me when I was walking out of the classroom and started walking alongside me.

"What, are we talking again?"I asked, rolling my eyes. I wondered what he wanted.

His answer was a strange one. He just said,"I'm very sorry, but it has to be this way. It's just better if we're not friends. I'm sorry."

I looked at him out of the corner of my eye. He was facing forward and was pursing his lips slightly, showing how hard this was for him. I think. He may just have had some food stuck on his teeth. "Okay then,"I said slowly. "Let's not be friends. Let's go through the rest of our school years not talking to each other. Starting now." Then I sped up and reached my gym class in double quick time. I must say, people were acting strangely that day.

After I came out of the hellish gym lesson and made my way over to my truck, Eric caught up with me. Remember Eric? Black-haired, chess club Eric. We've been getting along much better since that first, rocky day. Anyway, he caught up to me and said,"Hey, Izzy."

"Oh, hi,"I grinned, throwing my schoolbag into the truck. "If this is about yesterday, I have a good reason why I didn't go to the chess club. I had a really big essay to do for this morning and I wanted to get a good start at it."

"That's not why I'm here."

"Good, because that was lie. What is it?"

"Well, I was just wondering if maybe, if you're not doing anything, perhaps you'd like to go to the dance with me." He said all this quickly, looking down at his shoes. Because of this, he didn't see my pained expression.

"I thought it was girl's choice."

"Well... Yeah. Sorry."

"No, I'm sorry,"I sighed, shaking my head. "I'm afraid I'm not going to the dance at all. I'm actually going to be in Seattle."

"Really?"he asked, jerking his head up.

"Yeah, but don't worry, maybe someone else'll ask you out."

Then with a reassuring smile that sent him on his way, I threw myself up into my truck, started the engine and pulled out into the car park. I'd have driven off straight away, but Edward's silver Volvo (Yup, he drives a silver Volvo. Did I mention that the Cullens are wealthy as Hell?) had pulled out in front of me and was blocking my way out. I wanted to ram the back of the stupid car, despite the many witnesses and was just about to when I heard a tap on the window. Looking round, I recognised Tyler and sighed. What was it now?

"Hello, Tyler, how are you?"I asked, trying to be civil as I opened the window. I had to wind the stupid thing manually, another reason to hate the truck.

"I'm fine thanks,"he smiled. "I just wanted to ask if you'd like to go to the dance with me?"

I felt my kind smile fade and annoyance start to creep up instead. "Sorry, Tyler. I'm not going to the dance at all. I'm going to Seattle."

"Yeah, Mike said that..."

I blinked. "So why are you asking if you knew I was going to be away?"

"I thought you were just trying to turn him down gently."

I stared at him for a second, struck dumb by his arrogance. Then I just rolled the window up and turned away, shaking my head. He stood by the door for a full minute before he got the hint and wandered back to his own car. All I could do was sigh. Then I glanced into Edward's car and I swear I saw him laughing. So with a frown, I sped up in an effort to ram his car, but he'd already left the car park and was driving off.

"Damn,"I muttered. "I'll have to get him tomorrow."

So, with your permission, I'd like to fast forward to the next morning. I was just getting out of my truck into the cold air, listening to my iPod, gripping a cigarette in my fingers. Then, when I locked my door and turned round I came face-to-face with Edward Cullen. I took a small puff on the cigarette, then tugged out my earphones.

"Good morning,"he smiled, nodding at me.

"I thought we weren't talking,"I said, striding past him in the direction of the school. "What with the whole us-not-being-friends thing."

"Well, I just wanted to ask you something." He was easily keeping pace with me, despite my best efforts. "I was wondering if, at the time of the dance-"

"Oh, don't you start,"I growled, turning round to face him. "You know I'm not going."

"Yes, yes, I know,"Edward nodded, raising his hands in a 'calm down' motion that really ticked me off. "I was just wondering if you'd like a lift down to Seattle. I'd be more than happy to drive you."

"What?"I spluttered. "You're offering to drive me to Seattle? Doesn't that seem a little too friendly?"

Edward folded his arms and narrowed his eyes. "Would you like a lift or not?"

"Uh... Sure, why not." At that point I was too confused to argue.

"Good, I'll come and pick you up. See you in class." Then he turned to leave. But before he did, he added,"And until that time I'd like it if we could keep acting like we hate each other. You really should stay away from me. Okay? See you."

I was left standing in the car park, wondering what had just happened. Maybe Edward was bipolar, it would explain a lot. And maybe there was a bet going around the school about who could convince me to go the the dance with them. Or something. I don't know, it was all pretty fucking odd. And Edward was acting like a freak. I had to do something. Then, without thinking about what I was doing, I ran back down the car park, looking around. Ah, there it was. With an evil grin I ran up to Edward's shiny, silver Volvo, walked around it and stubbed out my cigarette on his windscreen. Then, feeling much better, I went off to class.


	8. The Uneatable Muffin

**Taken me a while to get this up, but I've had a bit of writer's block. And then I was Christmas shopping. And then I was playing in the SNOW! It's SNOWING here! YAY!**

**Anyway, I would like to present you with this chapter. Please leave any feedback, thoughts and criticism in a review.**

--

So the whole conversation in the car park had left me ever so slightly confused, not a feeling I particularly enjoy. So I had been in a bit of a bad mood that morning. Luckily though, Mike and Eric had been on hand to cheer me up. They gave me a muffin.

So I wandered into the canteen with a muffin in my hand and a little smile on my face, got my lunch and then sat down at the usual table. I noticed Jessica grinning at Mike when he sat down and it gave me a warm, fuzzy feeling in my stomach. The half hearted smile that Mike returned...not so much. But the fuzzy feeling returned when I bit into the muffin. Then I heard Jessica giggling beside me.

"Izzy,"she hissed, elbowing me in the ribs. "Edward Cullen's looking at you." I glanced up to see what she was talking about. The usual Cullen family table was taken up by only for people, Edward himself was missing. After a quick scan of the room, I saw him sitting at his own table and as Jessica said he was staring straight at me. When I looked over, a smile spread over his face and he beckoned to me with one hand. I saw that he wanted me to go over and I couldn't help but raise one eyebrow.

"What does he want?"Jessica asked in a low whisper, getting incredibly excited for some reason.

"I've absolutely no idea,"I sighed. "I'll go find out." At that, I got to my feet and started moving off. I was halfway across the room when I realised I was still holding my muffin. It was too late to put it down though, so I was gripping it tightly when I reached Edward's table.

"Yes?"I asked, not trying to be civil. "What is it?"

His smile seemed to get slightly wider. "I was wondering if you'd like to have lunch with me today."

I was silent for a moment, wondering what he was getting at. "Edward, I was just having lunch with my friends,"I told him, gesturing over my shoulder at the table I'd just left. "If you want, you can come over and sit there, but I'm afraid I'm not just going to sit down just because you tell me to. Besides, I thought we weren't meant to be friends."

Edward folded his arms and leaned back in his chair. "You're right, we're not meant to be friends. Does that mean we can't eat lunch together?"

"Well, think of it this way. I'd rather spend my lunch hour with my friends than with some weird guy in my biology class. No offence."

Edward narrowed his eyes slightly and looked like he was about to say something, but I hadn't finished talking yet.

"However, if you're _really_ desperate to talk to me, then how about this? I'll go back over to that table, finish my lunch, then go outside for a moment. If you wanted to, you could follow me and we could talk then. And the next time you want to eat lunch with me, you'll arrange it beforehand, okay?"

Edward blinked a few times, frowning. "Um, okay."

"Great." At this, I turned and strode back across the canteen. I sat back down at the table and continued eating my lunch. It was a ham sandwich and an apple, not the most glamourous lunch, but tasty. And just as I was about to bite into it...

"So, what did he want?" Jessica leaned over the table eagerly. It seemed that everything Edward Cullen did fascinated her and nothing pleased her more than hearing what Edward was saying.

"Oh, he just wanted to ask me something about Biology. Not much."

"Oh." She sounded disappointed, as if she'd been expecting something truly shocking. I'm not sure what. She shut up long enough for me to finish my sandwich and apple and I somehow managed to get away before she started speaking again. And I managed to get out of the canteen without anyone stopping me. And I managed to get across the playground without anyone calling out to me. It was when I crossed the road and sat down on the wall facing the school that Edward caught up with me.

"That was quick,"I said, raising one eyebrow. Then, with a sigh, I nodded at the wall beside me.

"Hello,"he said, sitting down on the wall.

"Hey,"I murmured. Then I started rootling around in my schoolbag for a cigarette, suddenly realising that I was still holding my muffin.

"So, anyway,"Edward said as I was hunched over my bag. "I've decided that I'm tired of staying away from you, so we can be friends now and hang out. But I warn you, I'm not going to be a _good_ friend."

I sat up, cigarette box and new lighter in hand, and frowned at him. "Okay, first of all, you can't just say we're friends and make it so. And second of all, who says what makes a good friend in my books?" I looked at him coldly and lit a cigarette.

"Oh yeah... You smoke?" He eyeballed the cigarette I was holding with distaste. "I don't think that's a good idea."

"Edward, if you try to make me stop talking then I will put this cigarette out in your eye." I glanced round at him and released a stream of smoke from my lips. "I've done it before. And if you keep saying stuff like that then you _won't_ be a good friend." I paused. "So, was there anything else?"

"Just that you'll stay away from me if you're smart,"he shrugged, not looking at me.

"For God's sake, Edward,"I groaned, closing my eyes in annoyance. "_You're_ the one who followed me out here, keeps talking to me and offered to drive me to Seattle. If you think we shouldn't be near each other, then _you_ should be the one trying harder. And by the way, I do not appreciate slights against my intelligence."

I turned and looked across the car park. There was Edward's shiny Volvo with the cigarette stubbed out on it. I couldn't see it from where I was sitting, but I knew it was there.

"What are you thinking?"he asked suddenly, making me jump.

"Uh... I'm trying to figure out what you are,"I told him, saying the first thing that came into his head. In reality, I wasn't thinking anything of the sort.

"Any theories?"he asked, going along with it. I thought a moment and all I could come with were these: he was either bipolar or had split personalities. What other explanation was there for him going from 'let's not talk to each other' to 'I think we should be friends'?

"Are you manic depressive?"I asked, looking round at him.

"Um... No." He blinked a couple of times. "I wasn't expecting that."

"What were you expecting?"I asked curiously.

"Well, I've been called Spiderman in the past,"he suggested hopefully.

"And how would you reply if I called you Spiderman?"

"I'd say something like, 'what if I'm not a superhero? What if I'm the bad guy?'"

"And then I'd say 'what if I'm not a damsel waiting for a superhero? What if I'm another bad guy?'" I took a suck on my cigarette, then added,"And then I'd just say it was a cheesy line. And besides, you're nowhere near Spiderman. Or Batman. If you were a hero you'd be Superman, because I find you both annoying."

I finished off the cigarette and stubbed it out on the wall beside me, then glanced at my watch. It was time to get to class.

"Well, I'm off,"I sighed, getting to my feet. "You can do whatever you want."

"I'm not going to Biology today,"he told me with a grin. "I think it's healthy to ditch class every now and then."

"You and me both,"I nodded. "See ya." Then, without waiting for a reply, I crossed the road and moseyed off to class.

As I wandered across the playground to the school building, I looked down and realised that I was still holding onto the muffin. "Goddamn, why can't I eat you?"I muttered. "Is this a sign that I should leave you alone? Will I be struck down by lightening if I take more than one bite?" I'd eaten it by the time I got to class.


	9. Please Leave Me Alone

**Merry Christmas aftermath, everyone. I hope you all had a lovely time, whether you are of the Christian faith, another faith or are atheist/agnostic. I myself am just back from my grandparents' house. It was great. My favourite present? Dungeons and Dragons. :D**

**Anyway, here is another chapter for you.**

**Please leave any comments/criticism/thoughts in a review.**

**And I know I haven't been able to reply to reviews but I've been incredibly busy. I _promise_ I'll reply to all future reviews.**

--

"Miss Swan," the teacher said when I sat down in Biology. "You're cutting it rather fine." He glanced up at the clock. I'd arrived just as the bell went, that meant I was almost late. Shock horror!

"My watch stopped, sir," I told him with a fake smile. He frowned, but dropped the subject.

"Where is Mr Cullen?" he asked, taking a different tack.

"He's skipping," I answered promptly. Hey, he told me. I wasn't going to lie when someone asked me point-blank.

"Don't be ridiculous." The teacher narrowed his eyes at me, then moved off to the front of the class. I raised my eyebrow. I was being ridiculous, was I? Fine then, I'd never tell the truth to him ever again.

"Today class, we will be finding out our blood type," he said, putting on a pair of rubber gloves. He started walking around the room, handing out little square things and a whole bunch of other gizmos. I can't remember what he said, but I do remember what he did. He grabbed Mike's hand, shoved something sharp into his finger and then dropped blood onto one of the square things. I watched all of this happening and felt the colour drain from my face. You see, I'm not overly fond of blood. It, uh... It makes me faint. Even the tiniest drop, it's very annoying. So, while everyone else was laughing and pricking their fingers, I was holding my head in my hands and taking deep breaths.

"Izzy?" I heard the teacher ask after a short period. "Are you okay?"

I wanted to yell at him. Something along the lines of: 'Of course I'm not fucking okay! If I was okay would I be breathing this deeply, shaking and looking even more pale than normal? Jesus, what the fuck kind of teacher are you?' I always get a little bit cranky at these times.

Luckily though, I restrained myself and instead just shook my head.

"Would you like to go to the nurse?" he asked, sounding genuinely concerned. I nodded again.

"Could someone take Izzy to the nurse, please?" he called. "Yes, Mike. Okay. Here you go Izzy."

The next thing I knew, I was being hoisted onto my feet and Mike was helping me out of the classroom. I could feel everyone's eyes on me as I went, but for once I didn't like their attention. Who wants to be gawped at when they're being carried from the room?

"Wow, Izzy," Mike said when we were halfway across campus. "What's wrong?"

"Blood and I don't go well together," I murmured, rubbing my forehead with one hand.

"No kidding, you're green," he chuckled, stopping to look at me. I sighed and smiled at him.

"Thanks Mike, what girl doesn't enjoy hearing that?" I patted his shoulder. "But you've been a great help. I'm okay now, I can walk myself to the nurse."

"Well... Okay," Mike said and he tentatively let go of me. I took a couple of shaky steps. Then my legs gave way and I flumped onto the ground.

"Ow," I muttered into the asphalt.

"Oh God!" Mike yelped, leaping forward.

"Izzy?" Edward called, appearing out of the blue and reaching me before Mike. "My God, what happened?" This last bit was directed to Mike.

"Well, we were finding out our blood type in Biology and she looked really sick," Mike told him, sounding as confused as I felt. "So I'm taking her to the nurse. I'm not sure what happened, she didn't even prick her finger."

"Izzy?" Edward asked, sounding worried. "Izzy, can you hear me?"

"Of course I can hear you," I told him, pushing myself up off the ground. "I haven't gone deaf." I sat back and started rubbing my head and spitting out small stones that had got into my mouth. As I did this, Edward started talking again.

"You go back to class, Mike. I'll take her to the nurse," he as saying.

"What? But I was told to... You weren't even... I thought... Huh?"

"You can't miss class, Mike," Edward told him. "Off you go now." Mike offered another mumbled excuse, then gave up and sloped back to Biology. I turned round in confusion.

"Wait, why are _you_ taking me to the nurse?" I asked.

"Because Mike was being careless and let you faint," Edward told me, picking me up. And I mean, picking me _up_. He lifted my entire body off the ground and up into his arms, then carried me off to the nurse. I looked up at him in confusion. I could walk. Still, he carried me in this manner all the way to the nurse's office where he placed me on the bed they have there, then started talking to the nurse herself.

"Izzy's feeling rather sick," he was telling her. "She just needs to rest a little while." Then he sat down next to me and grinned.

"So, you don't like blood?" he asked cheerily.

"Not particularly, no," I shrugged. "Except in movies of course. You can't smell it in movies."

"Smell it?"

"Yeah, it's the smell I don't like," I told him. "It's... Yucky." I pursed my lips in annoyance at having been unable to come up with a better word. Blood is 'yucky'? Someone shoot me now. "You know, it's like rust and decay and... stuff."

"I see," he nodded, trying to understand. By the look of confusion on his face I could tell that he didn't. I lay back and looked up at the interesting pattern of cracks in the ceiling. Suddenly, I was feeling rather bored.

"Hey Edward, can you do me a favour," I asked waving my hand at him. "You know, seeing as how we're supposedly friends now."

"Sure," he nodded. "What?"

"Just go tell that person out there that I'm too sick to go to gym and that you're going to take me home right now. I'll do the rest."

"Um... Okay then." I hear him get up and move out to talk to the teacher. As he did so, I let out a groan that was loud enough to be heard, but not so loud that it sounded fake. I think that was what did it because Edward was now helping me up and out of the school. I did my best to look utterly helpless as we went. Then, when we were out of sight of the office, I straightened up and started walking normally.

"Thanks for your help," I nodded as the two of us neared the car park. "I can take it from here."

"But I'm going to be driving you home," Edward told me, grabbing my arm to stop me walking away. "You're sick."

I glanced round at him. "Wow, my acting's really gotten better if I've managed to convince you too," I grinned. "I'm fine, really."

"You fainted."

"I've recovered."

"You're pale."

"I'm always pale."

"You're not driving yourself home."

"Yes I am and you can't stop me." I turned and started walking away across the car park. Edward walked right beside me.

"Look Edward," I sighed as we went. "I'm sure this protective, I'm-going-to-save-you attitude works wonders with the other girls, but I'm starting to find it annoying. Can you _please_ just leave me alone?"

"But you're sick," he said, slowing down slightly. We were approaching my stupid truck. "You're in no state to drive."

"I once went to a friend's party and had several tequila shooters and various other drinks. I still managed to drive home without hitting anything." I turned round to face him. "I will drive myself home. Thanks for your kind offer, but I'm afraid I don't want a stalker right now."

"Stalker?" Edward repeated, nonplussed. I swung myself up into the truck and slammed the door, waving at him as I drove away.

Let me tell you something, that night before I went to bed, I opened the window and peered out. I couldn't see anything, but I still told Edward what I'd do to him if he was out there. Hopefully, he heard.


	10. You Have Horrible Taste

**Sorry it took so long to get this chapter up, but I've had a shed-load of homework. As a matter of fact, I'm meant to be doing my English right now, but I can't be bothered. So I decided to give you the next chapter instead.**

**If you have any comments, please leave them in a review.**

--

"So what do you think of this blue one?"

"It's nice."

"But I quite liked the black one."

"That one was nice too."

"And the red one?"

"Yeah, it was nice."

"But which one is best?"

I looked at the dresses Jessica was holding out and the one that she was wearing. In all honesty I thought they were all awful. The black one made her look middle-aged, the red one made her look fat and the blue one made her look like a whore. There was only one in the entire shop that suited her and she'd rejected it because it was 'too simple'. Now she was doomed to look ridiculous at the school dance. If only she was as easy to shop with as Angela (the quiet one, remember?). She'd already picked out a nice pink dress with matching shoes and was ready to go. As I helped Jessica pick out a dress, Angela was off looking at jewellery.

"Um..." I stared at the dresses, trying to decide which one was nicest. Finally, I just asked, "Which one do you like best?"

"I don't know,"Jessica said, frowning at the different outfits. "I guess the blue one's quite nice."

"So do you want to buy that?"

After a moment's thought, she smiled. "Yeah, I'll buy this one."

"Okay then,"I nodded, forcing a smile. "Let's go then."

"Wait a minute, Izzy. I need to get shoes,"Jessica giggled.

"Oh. Right. Okay then, you go get shoes,"I told her, gesturing in the direction I thought the shoes were.

"Yeah, I'll just get changed first." She turned to go back into the changing room, paused, then glanced round at me. "Izzy, you wouldn't mind putting these dresses back, would you? Thanks." Then she dumped the garments in my arms and hurried to get changed. I raised an eyebrow, but decided not to fuss. If she was going to wear the horrible blue dress then I'd be as nice as possible to make her feel better. It would make me feel better about not doing more to stop her, too. Besides, I had some stuff I wanted to think about.

The weekend after I'd got out of that Biology class, Mike had invited me to go with him and a bunch of friends to the nearby beach. It was at a place called La Push or something. Anyway, it had been a lot of fun. We'd gone wandering over to some rock pools; built a big bonfire; cooked a few sausages. The whole routine. And when I was there, I'd run into an old friend.

His name was Jacob Black and I'd played with him and his sisters years ago when I visited Forks. Charlie went fishing with his dad quite often now. Anyway, we got to talking and started reminiscing and stuff. Somehow we got onto the subject of mythology and he started telling some old stories about the area. I can't remember what he said so I'll give you the most important part: he said that Dr. Cullen and his family were cold, pale-skinned, blood-sucking creatures that were the enemy of the local people.

It sounded stupid of course, but I'd been thinking of that for the whole week after that to this point. Let me tell you what I've come up with. Pale, hard skin. Cold bodies. Strange beings of darkness. I've come up with the following conclusions: I was smarter than I thought I was, mythology could be interesting, Edward Cullen was a vampire. Well think about it. I've touched his skin and it's pretty cold and hard. He keeps away from everyone else in the school (except his family and me). Then there was all the weird stuff that he did when the van almost crashed into me. It made sense. Well it did in my mind, anyway. I was planning to talk to him about it as soon as possible.

But there was something else. The reason Edward spent time with me. I've watched an awful lot of vampire movies in my time and I think I've figured it out. The vampire kid wanted to drink my blood. How often does someone say that?

So... About three things I was absolutely sure.

1) Edward was a vampire.

2) There was a part of him that thirsted for my blood.

3) That was unconditionally and irrevocably the coolest thing ever.

Suddenly, I was able to forgive him for behaving so strangely. I now understood completely why he acted like he had a split personality. I didn't care that he acted like a stalker. It didn't matter because he was a vampire. A blood-sucking creature of the night (I know he could walk about in the day, but still). When I told him I knew his secret he would probably sweep me off my feet, bury his fangs in my neck and carry me off to some dark, sinister mansion. I hoped he would anyway.

Ever since I was a child I'd dreamed about vampires. When other girls had been reading fairy tales and dreaming of their prince, I'd been dreaming of my evil monster who was coming to save me. I still loved the idea of a evil creature drinking my blood. I mean, is there any better way to die? Of course, I'd much rather become one, but still. I was so excited. Edward was a vampire!

"Izzy, what do you think of these shoes?" Jessica called, snapping me out of my thoughts. She was holding up a pair of strappy sandals covered in so many sequins they were like horrible little mirror balls.

"Oh yeah... They're nice."

It took a while, but eventually Jessica picked out a pair of shoes that went with her dress, paid for everything and we wandered out of the store. We were planning on going to a restaurant and getting something to eat, but we still had about an hour before that. So, while Jessica and Angela went for a walk down the beach, I wandered off in search of a music shop. I wanted some CDs. And I wanted to mull over my vampire hypothesis a bit more.

It took me a little while to find a music shop and when it didn't have any CDs I didn't already have. So I moseyed off in search of another shop. Any other shop. I just wanted something to do until I went back to the restaurant. Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be anything of interest in the first few streets I walked along and even less on the next few. So I didn't expect anything on the next street.

At first I was right to expect nothing, there were just a bunch of warehouses. Then, when I reached the end of the road, I noticed that I wasn't quite alone. Actually, I noticed that a few people were following me. And then there were a few people waiting in the next street. I trotted along the pavement, watching the people behind me with one eye and the people in front of me with the other. They seemed to be closing in on me. Or was I being vain? Maybe they were just trying to walk past me and I just thought they were following me.

Er... No, they were following me. I knew they were when one of them stopped right in front of me and grinned down at me with crooked yellow teeth. I looked back up at him and blinked pleasantly.

"Hello,"I greeted him.

"Hello,"he leered back.

"I'm sure you don't mean to, but you're blocking my way,"I told him, pointing past him to a lit street I could see.

"You're not going to leave, are you sweetie?"someone asked behind me. I glanced round at him. "I was hoping we could have some fun."

"Oh... You want some fun?" I nodded and felt a grin spread across my face. "Well... I could help you with that." I don't think any of them noticed my fist until it barrelled into that fat one's face.


	11. Not What A Nice Girl Would Do

**I hate studying for exams. It takes up all your time and you don't have any spare moments when you can type up a story. But anyway, here's the next chapter up at last. Hope you like it.**

--

Lewis has a cousin called Richard, a couple of years older than him. Now, Richard was what you'd call a no-hoper. He dropped out of school, smoked, drank, lived with his parents and even dabbled in drugs. A few years ago his family had an intervention where a whole heap of relatives trudged into Phoenix to try and get him clean. Among these relatives was Richard's brother, Michael. Michael is a martial arts instructor and was kind enough to teach a bunch of us some really nifty moves that we were 'only meant to use in emergencies'. When you add this to the two years Amy and I spent going to self defence classes on weekends and all the tips my police officer father gave me, I could be quite formidable. That was why I was able to make mincemeat of my attackers.

As soon as the first guy went down, clutching his nose I set to work on the rest of them. One guy got burst eardrums; another got a kick in the stomach and a punch to the teeth; one got a swift knee to the groin. You get the idea. In under ten minutes I was standing in the middle of a bunch of groaning bodies all slumped on the ground. With a quick glance down at them, I tossed my hair out of my face and stepped over a couple of them to get to the lit street.

Just then, there was a screech of tyres and I jumped in shock to see a silver Volvo skid to a stop in front of me and flinging open the door. I leaned over slightly, peering into the dark interior.

"Izzy?"a voice asked, sounding fairly surprised. "Um... Do you need a lift?"

"Sure, thanks,"I grinned. I couldn't see who it was, but at that moment I didn't really care. I was getting kinda tired from beating up everyone and it would be nice to drive to the restaurant. I stepped over a few bodies and walked to the car. Then stopped and hurried back again. One of those people looked familiar.

Leaning over a blocky guy with curly brown hair and a black eye, I said,"Richard? Is that you?"

"Who wants to know?"he mumbled through a bloody mouth.

"I'm Izzy, Lewis' friend. I met you at your intervention."

He looked up at me,his one open eye looking slightly glazed. Then there was a flickering of recognition and he gave me a lopsided grin. "Wow, Izzy. Is that you? You look really different. Was your hair always that colour?"

I smiled and shook my head. "Nah, it used to be red and black."

"Cool,"Richard nodded. Then he groaned. "Listen, Izzy. I didn't recognise you at all before. Believe me, if I did I wouldn't have dreamed of robbing you or... Anything."

"Oh, don't worry about it,"I told him. "It's fine. Nice to see you again."

"Yeah,"he nodded, waving slightly as I made my over to the car. I waved back as the car sped away.

"What the Hell happened?"an annoyed voice asked me from the driver's seat. I turned round and was not at all surprised to see Edward Cullen looking at me with narrowed eyes.

I couldn't help giving him a wide smile. "Oh I was just teaching those creeps a lesson,"I told him with a shrug. "They wanted to rob me or knife me or rape me or something, I don't know."

"They _what_?!"

"Oh calm down,"I chuckled. "Nothing happened."

Edward screwed his mouth up and gripped the steering wheel a bit tighter. "Why were you talking to that one guy?"he asked.

"Oh, I knew him,"I explained. "He's my friend's cousin. Haven't seen him in a while, he ran away from home after his family convinced him to come off drugs. Can you believe we run into each other here, of all places?"

I looked round with a pleasant smile and saw him clenching his teeth and breathing very slowly and deliberately. He seemed rather annoyed, I'm not sure why. Anyway, at that point I spotted Jessica and Angela walking down the street and waved at Edward to stop the car.

"Hey,"I called to them, hopping out and running up to them. "I've been looking for you."

"Oh, hi Izzy,"Jessica smiled. "And... Oh. Hello."

Edward had managed to park the car in double quick time and was now standing just behind me. "Hello,"he smiled, nodding at the two of them.

"Sorry it took me a while to get back, I met some people,"I chuckled, shrugging apologetically. "But anyway, can we go get dinner?"

"Oh, um. Sorry Izzy. We ate when we were waiting for you,"Angela told me, looking at her shoes.

"Sorry,"Jessica added.

"Huh,"I huffed, scratching the back of my head. I looked up at the restaurant we were standing beside, thinking. "Oh well, no bother. I can eat alone. Get a taxi home."

"Oh no Izzy, I can wait,"Angela started, but Edward interrupted.

"No, don't do that,"he told her. "I haven't eaten yet, I can stay with Izzy and then drive her home." The two girls stared at him in shock. I rolled my eyes. Why hadn't I seen this coming? I wasn't surprised, to be honest I was a little glad. I could take this opportunity to tell him my vampire theory. I knew he would follow me eventually and wandered into the restaurant.

It was a small, friendly place with a few empty tables around the edge of the room. A waitress tried to lead me over to a table in the centre of the room, but I wandered over to a quieter area in a corner. Here, I sat down, ordered two cokes and some spaghetti, and waited. After five minutes, Edward entered and sat down opposite me. The drinks came shortly after and I noticed the waitress goggling at Edward, who didn't glance up at her.

"Good evening,"I greeted Edward after the waitress had left. "I got you a drink." I pushed the glass towards him, grinning devilishly. I knew, if he was a vampire, that he wouldn't be able to drink it. Edward held the glass in his hands, but didn't drink. Just as I expected.

"So what happened with those guys?"Edward asked, looking at me.

I shrugged. "I told you all I know. And it doesn't matter, they're taken care of."

"Yeah,"he frowned. "I noticed. Where did you learn to take down a whole group like that?"

"It's just something you pick up,"I grinned. Then I thought of something. "Hey, wait a minute. How did you find me in the first place? Were you just on a casual drive around town when you happened to spot me?"

He was silent for a moment, staring at me. Then he blinked. "It's a complicated story."

"We've got all evening,"I shrugged, leaning back in my chair.

"I don't even think I'm supposed to tell you."

"Sure you're not,"I said, watching him. "You're not allowed to tell me a lot of things, are you?"

He stiffened slightly and didn't meet my eyes. "What do you mean?"

I felt my grin get even wider as I watched his discomfort. "I mean that I know what you are."

"Oh? And what am I?" He wasn't looking at me, but I could tell his mind was turning quickly, trying to figure out what I knew. And I was going to tell him. I leaned forward, leaning my elbows on the table, watching him gleefully. Then, from my pocket I pulled a silver cross on a chain.

Holding it in front of me, I whispered,"Vampire."


	12. Hotty and The Disco Ball

**Hey everyone. First of all, I'm sorry it took so long to get this chapter up, I've been really busy. Exams are coming up, we're preparing to move house to the other hemisphere, I'm trying to organise a birthday/leaving party in five weeks and the laptop broke and only got fixed yesterday. Anyway, those are all excuses and it's here now.**

**And there's something I need to ask you. The next chapter will have some reference to various manga/anime. To be exact, it will have some cosplay. The thing I need you to do is this: I need some ideas for two character's costumes. The first is for Stephen, the second is for Izzy. I just need ideas for costumes that they might wear to an anime themed party. Any suggestions will be welcome. Thanks. :)**

--

The sun was shining brightly down onto the bright green treetops. Th sky was a bright, clear blue with only a few fluffy white clouds floating across it. Tiny songbirds flew around the world, filling everything with their cheery songs. And I was happier than I had been in weeks, for one reason.

Edward had admitted that he was a vampire.

He had tried to deny it for a few minutes in the restaurant, but he eventually came clean. I'd been grinning non-stop ever since then, which is no mean feat as that was two days ago. But I was still grinning on Saturday morning when I got up out of bed and started dancing around the room.

You see, I was really excited because Edward said that he was going to show me what happened to vampires in the sunlight. I was curious about that. Obviously, he wasn't going to burst into flames and perish, I don't think he'd be up to killing himself in front of me. But I was still hoping for some kind of fire or burning or something along those lines. And then, when he showed me what happened in the life, he was going to bite me and turn me into a vampire too. He hadn't actually told me that, but I knew that was what would happen. It's what vampires always do.

So on that bright morning, I was busy getting ready for my date with a vampire. After I already pulled on the floor length, red dress (something I'd worn ages ago to a cousin's wedding) and sleek black heels I fastened the silver cross that I'd been wearing every day since the conversation in the restaurant around my neck. I left my hair to flow elegantly down around my shoulders, making my smouldering eyes and dark lips stand out. There was no doubt about it, I looked hot.

Now all I needed was Edward.

I sat up in my room, impatiently drumming my fingers on the desk. Finally, there was a knock on the door and, with a grin, I got to my feet and slowly made my way downstairs. Although I normally manage to fall over at completely the wrong moment, that morning I managed to glide down the stairs like a ghost. Then, placing a small smile on my lips, I pulled open the door.

"Oh, Edward," I smiled. "How nice to see you."

"Uh... Hello Izzy. Aren't you a bit overdressed for a walk in the woods?"

"What?!"

Edward was wearing jeans, a shirt and a jacket, not exactly on the same level as me. And he was looking at me with a look of confusion on his face.

"You never said we were going to be in the woods," I snapped, my image of grace destroyed by me angry tone of voice. "You just said you were going to show me what happened to you in the sun."

"Yeah... After the walk in the woods." Edward was starting to look a bit unsure of himself. "Isn't that what people do on dates?"

I blinked, thinking for a moment. Edward had admitted that, although he's been around for a hundred years, he'd never actually had a girlfriend. So obviously, he wasn't sure what people did on dates. It seemed that he'd been watching a few too many movies and didn't know that a trip to the cinema was more common. That or bowling. Then again, he was a vampire so I suppose different rules applied to him.

"Well, I suppose that's fine," I huffed, tossing my hair in annoyance. "But I'm not driving and I'm not walking far."

"Fine," Edward nodded, then he gestured towards his Volvo that was sitting in the road behind him. He'd asked if I wanted to drive my truck, but I flatly refused. Who'd turn down a chance to go in his flash car, in favour of the red monstrosity? So I slipped into the car and waited for Edward to join me.

When he finally did get in the car and the two of us drove off, we had a bit of polite conversation. It was mostly just him asking questions me and me answering them. Boring stuff, you don't want to hear it. It was halfway through the car journey that my ears pricked up and I turned to the car stereo in interest.

"Claire de Lune?" I asked, indicating the CD he was playing.

"You know Debussey?"

"Why are you surprised?" I grinned at the apologetic look that flashed through his eyes. "My mother played classical music all the time. I only remember a few. Debussey's good, but I always prefer Mozart. Come to think of it, I prefer my rock even more."

"Some rock's fine," Edward nodded. "I've lived through so many decades with all their music, and classical is definitely my favourite."

"What's been your favourite musical decade?" I asked, my interest piqued. I'm into music, I needed to know if our tastes clashed.

"Hmm..." Edward mused. "The fifties were good. Sixties wasn't as good. The seventies were awful. The eighties were bearable."

"Hey," I snapped, frowning. "The eighties were infinitely better than the fifties."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah. The eighties had The Misfits, Bad Religion, Black Flag, The Smiths, The Cure, Skinny Puppy, Bauhaus, Alien Sex Fiend... Heaps more that I can't think of right now. Then there are all the bands that were influenced by the eighties. I'm sorry, Edward. The eighties rocked, the fifties... didn't."

Edward smiled and didn't say anything in response. From then, we drove in silence. I wondered if maybe I'd insulted him, but judging by the grin on Edward's face, I don't think so. When Edward finally stopped, we were beside a large forest of thick trees. I looked at the trees warily as the car drew to a stop, gently stroking my dress's skirt.

"Edward," I said slowly, not looking at him. "I don't think I'll be able to walk through there in these shoes."

Edward got out of the car, walked round to my door, opened it and said, "I guess I'll have to carry you then."

"That should be okay."

So that was how Edward ended up walking through the woods, with me reclining in his arms. Me wearing a red dress and holding my shoes in one hand, him in jeans and a jacket. It was quite nice. I liked the scenery and there was no chance of me tripping over and embarrassing myself and getting my dress dirty. It was great.

After a while, Edward stopped walking. Glancing up, I saw there was a small clearing just ahead of us and, glancing down, I saw that the ground was now covered in grass instead of twigs and rocks. So, I jumped down from Edward's arms and wandered out into the sun.

I was standing in a small meadow, full of long grass and wildflowers. I walked out in to the centre, looking around me.

"Hmm, nice." I waited for Edward's reply and when it didn't come I looked round in confusion. Edward was standing at the edge of the trees, concealed in shadow. For some reason, he had his shirt off. Then I suddenly remembered that I was here to see what happened to him in the sun. So I took a step back and looked on with interest.

Edward took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and stepped out into the sunlight.

"Edward?"

"Yes Izzy?"

"You're sparkling."

"Yes Izzy."

"Edward?"

"Yes Izzy?"

"What the fuck?"

Yeah, Edward was standing out in the sunlight, his skin sparkling a disco ball. There was no fire, no blistering skin, so screams of pain. He just sparkled. Not really what I was expecting.

"Why are you sparkling?" I asked, running up to look at him closer. "Did one of your sisters cover you in their glitter makeup? Oh God, is that _your_ glitter makeup? Are you gay? Because that's okay Edward, I'm fine with that-"

"What? No, I'm not gay," Edward told me, shaking his head in annoyance.

"Really? Because I've got a friend you might like, if you are."

"I'm not gay," he repeated, walking out into the clearing. "This is just what happens to me in the sun."

I blinked. "Okay then... But you can see how I would think that, right?"

He paused and looked down at himself. "Yeah, I can."

I followed him, frowning down at his sparkling skin. "So, vampires don't burn in the sun then?"

"No."

"Well, what about crosses? Do they burn you?"

"No."

"Silver?"

"No."

"Holy water?"

"No."

"Do you sleep in coffins?"

"No. Don't sleep."

"Do you have fangs?"

"No."

"Do you turn into a bat?"

"No."

"Can you cross running water?"

"Yes."

"Well, for God's sake Edward, what makes you remotely vampiric?"

"I drink blood."

I gave a sigh of relief and smiled. "Well that's good. So you sneak out at night, into people's bedrooms and drain them of all their blood. At least there's that."

"No, we don't drink human blood. That would be wrong, we were humans once. We drink _animal_ blood instead."

"What, your whole family?" I asked, frowning.

He nodded.

"None of you drink human blood?"

Edward started looking a bit sheepish and folded his sparkling arms over his sparkling chest. "We still drink animal blood."

"Well, that's something I suppose." I gave a moody huff and sat down. Edward moved to sit beside me, but I stopped him. "Sorry Edward, but would you mind putting your shirt back on. You're sparkling, it's embarrassing."

As Edward went to get his shirt, I shook my head in annoyance. A vampire who sparkled in the light? What was the world coming to? Next there'd be werewolves who transformed at will instead of at the full moon. Huh.


	13. Wishing I Had A Bazooka

**I am so so SO sorry that it took me so long to get this up. It's just that a whole lot of shit's been happening lately and my brain's been frazzled. I don't wanna go into details but one thing that is bugging me is that my house now has no furniture because we're moving to the other side of the world in about a week. I don't even have a bed anymore!**

**Anyway, I apologise for my tardiness and here is the next chapter.**

**If you want, I've put up some links in my profile so you can see what Izzy wears to visit the Cullens (I love the boots)**

**'Kay thanks.**

"What am I thinking then?"

We were still in the meadow, except Edward had put his shirt back on and I was chewing on a blade of grass. He'd just been telling me about a cool little vampire trick he could do: reading minds. Yup, Edward was telepathic and could get the answers to any pop quiz right out of the teacher's head. And that wasn't all. His sister Alice (the small one) could see the future and his brother Jasper (the blonde one) could control people's emotions. I didn't think there could be anything cooler about a vampire, but this seemed to be it. Psychic? Telepathic? Wow!

Edward glance up from where he was lying on the ground and grinned. "Well that's the thing, Izzy. I actually can't read your mind."

I blinked. "Huh?"

"I don't know why it is, but I just can't hear what you're thinking. I've tried really hard, but... Nothing." He shrugged and folded his arms.

I frowned at this. So I could think absolutely anything I wanted and Edward would be none the wiser? That would be handy.

"So have you ever heard anything pervy?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" Edward asked.

I nudged him with one high-heeled foot and frowned. "You know what I mean. And I know you have. You spend all day listening to the thoughts of teenagers, all of them coursing with hormones. At some time or other I'm pretty sure you heard some thought you wished you hadn't."

"Hmm..." Edward was silent for a moment, then he grinned. "Actually, there was one kid a couple of years ago that had a really sick mind. I didn't really mean to hear it, but she was sitting right in front of me in class and she was thinking really loud."

There was another awkward pause.

"Well?"

"Oh fine. She was thinking about how-"

And I'd really like to tell you exactly what this girl was thinking, but unfortunately it was too disgusting for me to write down. Hell, it was too disgusting for me to think about or even hear about first time round. By the end of the telling, my face resembled 'The Scream'. Not pretty. So I suppose I'll skip a little bit of this story and restart... now-

Travelling through the trees faster than any car I've ever been in with my arms clamped around a vampire's neck. Can't say I've done that every day. But I've gotta say that it was absolutely incredible. It had ten times the adrenaline rush of any roller-coaster I've ever been to (probably due to the dangerous lack of a seatbelt) with the added bonus of a cute vampire, of course. So anyway, by the time we left the trees and reached the car, my legs had turned into rubber. This meant that when I slid off Edward's back I kept sliding until I crumpled into a pile on the ground.

Or at least, I would've done if Edward hadn't caught me before I hit the floor. His arm slipped around my waist and held me up as I regained feeling in my legs. He looked round at me with his golden eyes. His face was vary close. He raised his hands and placed them on my face, looking at me as if considering how safe this was (he did want to rip my throat out, he'd told me earlier). Then, deciding that it would be alright, he ever so slowly moved forward and brushed his lips against mine. It was surprisingly soft and sweet considering he had skin like polished concrete, exactly the kind of kiss any girl would be thrilled with. What surprised me was my reaction.

I blinked and pursed my lips, drawing my head back slightly. Detecting this small movement, Edward pulled back and looked at me in surprise. Glancing down nervously, I raised a tentative hand up to my mouth.

"What's wrong?" Edward asked in concern. "Am I holding your head too hard?" He dropped his hands from my face.

"No, no," I insisted with a sigh. "It's just... Well... You have very cold lips." I glanced up and saw a look of slight embarrassment pass over his face. "It'll just take a little bit of getting used to, I'll get over it. And anyway." I smiled demurely and moved closer to him. "We can always try again later."

"Izzy, I-"

"No time for that," I grinned, patting him on the shoulder. "Take me home, I'm getting quite tired." With that, I turned and walked briskly to the Volvo. Edward flicked ahead and opened the door with a smile which I returned. I was glad Edward couldn't read my mind during the drive home, because I had much bigger plans for that night than just sleeping. That is until Edward ruined them.

We'd reached my house and gotten out of the car, Edward had gone ahead of me to the door and I followed him. When I reached the porch he was holding the door open for me with a smile.

"Oh, did I leave it unlocked?" I asked when I stepped inside. "I can be a bit forgetful sometimes."

"No, I got the key from the eaves," Edward grinned.

"Oh." I started to take of my shoes, then stopped and looked back up at Edward. "Um... How did you know the key was there?" I was sure I'd never used it in front of him.

Edward smiled. I straightened up.

"Edward. Have you been spying on me?"

"What else is there to do around here?"

To say I was angry is like saying hurricane Katrina was a light breeze. I was absolutely furious that Edward had spied on me and that he had the audacity to smile about it. He had stalked me! Even after I'd told him in no uncertain terms that it was not on (Back in chapter nine, remember?) he'd fucking stalked me! All I could to for five minutes was stare at him and go slowly red. Edward seemed to realise that something was wrong as his annoying smile faded slightly.

"Izzy-" he started, but I cut him off.

"So you've watched me leaving the house," I growled through gritted teeth. "Anything else I should know about?"

He was silent.

"Edward?"

"I... I watched you sleep a couple of times."

"WHAT?" That was even worse. He'd been hanging around outside my room and watched me sleep? It was sick. It was wrong It was... Wait a minute. I suddenly remembered one of my embarrassing ticks. I talked in my sleep. And not just random words or incoherent mumbles, I spoke full sentences. Had Edward heard me?

"Edward... When I was sleeping, did you... hear anything?" I asked slowly and clearly, my clenched fists shaking.

"Well, you talk in your sleep," he said, looking down at his shoes. "It's quite cute actually, I-" But I didn't want to hear any more.

Looking him straight in the eye, I snarled "Get out."

"What? Izzy-"

"GET OUT!"

He took a step back out the door and I immediately slammed it in his face, so hard that the glass shook slightly. Then, without a backwards glance I stormed away into the house, muttering every swear I knew under my breath. I can only hope Edward was listening and that he heard every single one of them.

My bad mood did not dissipate for hours and hours. When Charlie got back from work he looked shocked at my mood. Even more so when I slammed dinner down on the table then said I was going to bed without eating any of it.

When I was in my room and wearing my pyjamas, I glanced over at the window and at all the trees outside. Was Edward out there? I wandered over to it and yanked the large window open, then peered out into the darkness.

"Edward?" I asked into the night.

Silence.

Then, suddenly there was a pale boy clinging onto my window sill and smiling sheepishly up at me.

"Yes?"

I sighed. "Why are you still here when I told you to go away? Didn't you get the idea that I wasn't pleased about you hanging around outside my room all night?"

He deflated a bit, then said, "I just wanted to say I'm sorry. And... I wondered if you'd like to come meet the rest of my family tomorrow."

"Are they stalkers too?"

"No, but they're vampires."

"Will you be there?"

"Yes."

I thought for a moment. "If you promise to leave right now and not come back until the morning then I'll consider it."

Edward smiled, then vanished. I was left alone in my room in the darkness, staring out at the trees. Or at least, I thought I was alone. It's impossible to tell with vampires.

The next morning I woke up slowly at first. Then, as I remembered what had happened the day before, I sat bolt upright and looked around the room. No vampire. I hurried to the window and looked out. No vampire. My head spun because I'd got up too fast and I had to sit down, but still no vampire.

"Great," I smiled.

So I started that day in a good mood. My first cigarette was that much better The first bite of my apple was that much fresher My boots were laced that much tighter. The morning newspaper was that much more held by a vampire.

Huh?

I looked down on the doorstep at where the newspaper should have been and found two golden eyes staring back up at me. Edward was sitting by the door, apparently reading through the newspaper I was just about to bring in. He smiled at me in greeting. I raised my eyebrow.

"You came back," I said in slightly annoyed tones, twiddling my cigarette in my fingers.

"Well it is the morning," he said, getting to his feet. "And I'm here to give you a ride to my house." He gestured to the silver Volvo parked in the street behind him.

"Okay then," I shrugged, stubbing my cigarette out on the wall beside me. "Let's go." I took the newspaper from him and hurled it into the house behind me, then walked off to the car. "Lock the door for me, you know where the key is."

"Look, Izzy," Edward said when we were both in the car and driving along. "I'm really sorry about everything. I promise it won't happen again and... Well, I'm sorry."

"Save it, Edward," I said, not looking at him. "I'm still angry with you and apologies won't help. The reason I'm here today is so that I can meet your family, I'm not here for you."

"Okay," he sighed. "But I really am sorry."

"Yeah, well just give me some space and we'll be alright." I shifted slightly in my seat. "Where is this house of yours anyway?"

"Oh, just behind those trees," he said, waving a lazy white finger at the forest to our right.

We turned off the road onto a winding driveway and I leaned forward expectantly. A house vampires lived in! What would it be like? My guess was twirling turrets, shadowy corridors, piles of skulls. Edward said they didn't sleep in coffins but I imagined they might have a few just hanging around. You know, for effect.

So, when we rounded a corner and a large, white house came into view I kept looking around. It was only when Edward slowed to a stop and turned off the engine that I looked up at the house in front of me. It was large and white with big windows all over the walls to let light in. The garden was neat and ordered with colourful flowerbeds around the edge of the house. I blinked in surprise.

"Is this it?"

"Yes," Edward said, opening my door for me. "Nice, isn't it?"

"But it's so... Normal." I gape up at the building as I get out of the car, still not quite getting my head round the fact that this house was full of vampires.

"Izzy," Edward said, leading me to the door. "I'd have thought that by now you'd realise that we aren't like vampires from old horror movies and novels."

"Well you should be," I frowned.

Edward pushed open the front door and the two of us stepped into a spacious, airy hallway filled with light. The walls were a light cream colour and the carpets were very soft and light. I looked around for any sign of vampirism, but all I got was a big wooden cross at the top of the stairs. It was... Underwhelming. I mean, it was a perfectly nice house but not one for vampires. Oh well.

"Hello Edward," a voice said to the left. I turned my head and saw a pale, blonde woman standing beside Doctor Cullen (aka Carlisle) in the living room. I assumed the woman was the mother figure of the family. Esme I think Edward had said. "Is this Izzy?" she smiled, walking forward. "So nice to meet you."

I smiled and shook her cold hand. "Uh... nice to meet you too." I also shook Carlisle's hand, remembering his response to me last time we'd met. Fortunately, I wasn't wearing something too crazy that day. It was a little purple dress teemed with my knee-high, lace-up boots. You know, nothing too crazy. Anyway, it didn't seem to bother him as he acted kindly. But not quite as kindly as Edward's small sister, Alice.

"Hey Edward," she trilled, skipping down the stairs. "Hey Izzy." Then she kissed me on the cheek. Now normally that kind of action is saved for when you've said more than two words to a person. You know, unless your French or something. I'm not complaining or anything but still... Weird.

Then she smiled and said, "I'd like to apologise for Edward's behaviour over these last few weeks. I tried to tell him how you'd react when you found out but the fool wouldn't believe me. Anyway, you'll be glad to hear that we will not leave you two alone for fear of causing you any more mental distress."

"Um... Thanks." And I actually was pleased. I was still pissed off with Edward and I couldn't handle much alone time with him at that time. So knowing that a few extra vampires would be on hand was really comforting. I'm sure they'd be able to drag me away if I started yelling or trying to punch Edward (which wouldn't be a very good idea since he's basically made of rock and I have easily broken bones).

"So..." Edward said with a nervous smile, after I'd been introduced to everyone else in the house and we were all just milling about. "What do you want to do?"

I blinked. I'd had images of sending a stake through Edward's heart, allowing another vampire to bite me, becoming a ravenous beast of the night and then going on a drinking binge (if you get my drift) around the state of Washington.

"Oh, nothing in particular."


	14. Think These Things Through

**Hey, look at that, it's an update! A kinda crap update****. A ridiculously late update... An update so late that 'Sorry, a whole bunch of shit's been going down' is not a sufficient excuse. If you would like me to grovel and kiss your shoes, send a message and I will comply. *sob***

**Anyhoo, here ya go. I'll try and update quicker, there's a long weekend coming up.**

Let me just ask you something. If a bunch of vampires said they were going out to the woods to play, what would go through your mind? A form of hunting? Leaping from tree to tree in an odd race? Some sort of combat tournament? An orgy? Nope, nope, nope and (sadly) nope. It turns out that vampires play baseball now.

I've never been really fussed with baseball, it never interested me that much. I mean, I know it's the American pastime and it's a big deal or something, but still. Boring. I can still sit and watch it if there's nothing better to do, but it's not my first choice. Still, I thought maybe vampire baseball would be sorta interesting so I decided to tag along. After all, it couldn't be worse than regular baseball, right?

Wrong. First of all, the vampires all started running at super high speed so the most I saw was a faint blur. Secondly, when they hit the ball it made an incredibly loud bang which soon gave me the mother of all headaches. Thirdly, it was cold and wet. Baseball had to be played during a thunderstorm so nobody heard the thwack of bat on ball, but this meant that they had to play in the rain. This is fine when you're a vampire, but when you're a human? Not so much. Plus, it was evening, in winter, and I'm from Arizona. I had to wrap my coat tightly around myself and even then I shivered slightly. And I couldn't exactly skootch close to anyone for body heat because they were all vampires and were even colder than I was! Great. Just great.

I was sitting next to Esme who had decided not to play and keep score instead. It was fantastically awkward sitting next to her. I've only met a couple of boyfriend's parents and even then I had no idea what to say. What do you say?

_Hi I'm the girl who's sleeping with your child, or at least I'd like to but your kid's been acting like a prude._

_Oh really, Izzy that is interesting. We really must tell Edward to stop acting like a girl's blouse and make you feel like a woman._

Yeah right.

I yawned and lay back on the rock, not caring about my short skirt. I told Esme to wake me when the game was over and closed my eyes. Not how I wanted to spend my evening really.

Next thing I new, cold hands had grabbed my shoulders and were shaking me awake. I sat up in a daze and looked around. Through bleary eyes I could see that all the vampires had gathered around me.

"Wha's goin' on?" I mumbled, rubbing my eyes.

"There are other vampires coming," Edward told me in a low voice. "Alice just saw them. Two males and a female. They're gonna be here in five minutes."

"Oh," I scratched the back of my head. "Is that a bad thing? Aren't they like your extended family or something?"

"Well..." Edward shifted from foot to foot sheepishly. "The thing is... They might want to... Eat you."

I blinked. "Why is that a bad thing?"

"For God's sake, Izzy," Edward growled, yanking me to my feet beside him. "This is not a game, they could kill you."

"Why would they kill _me_, specifically?" I asked, thinking. "There's a whole town down there, with several tramps I've seen kicking around. Surely one of them would be easier to pick off without being noticed. You know, compared to me."

Edward looked at me. "I don't think vampires really think along those lines. It's more a question of, 'that smells good, I think I'll eat it'."

"But-" I stared, but was cut off by Carlisle.

"I'm sorry Izzy, but we'll have plenty of time for philosophical discussions later. The vampires are coming and... Oh, dammit." He closed his eyes as if praying for patience, then turned. I stood up on tiptoes and looked over Edward's shoulder.

A tall, reddish haired woman. A blonde man. Then a dark haired, dark skinned one lagging behind all had red eyes, they all looked fairly scruffy, and they definitely all looked like vampires. My eyes widened and I leant forward slightly. Carlisle walked over and started talking to them. I couldn't make out there words, they were speaking too quietly, but one of them laughed. I leaned forward even more, but Edward stuck out his arm to stop me. I looked at him in annoyance and sidestepped out of his way.

This movement caused the woman to look round. Her eyes narrowed slightly and she nudged the blonde guy. He glanced round, then grinned at Carlisle.

"Well, well," he said. "You brought a snack."

"Um... Not a snack, per se," Carlisle said uneasily. "She is more of a... Chum."

"Only because you're crappy vampires," I muttered to myself.

"Shut up," Edward hissed, but the blonde guy heard anyway.

"What... You mean... You don't eat humans?" he asked, looking around in confusion. Nobody answered. "But you're vampires! It's what we do!" I found myself nodding along with him. Finally, someone else gets it. Edward tucked me out of sight behind him, holding me in place so that I couldn't wiggle free.

"She is not for eating," Carlisle said firmly. I frowned and grumbled to myself. I peeked over his shoulder. Carlisle was hastily talking to the vampires who were all still glanceing over at me. Eventually, the three of them turned and walked back out to the forest. As they went, the girl looked back over her shoulder one last time. I waved.

The Cullens waited for five minutes.

Then Edward hoisted me up over his shoulder and the wholee family started running for the trees. As I bumped on Edwards shoulder, gaining a whole bunch of bruises on my stomach, I managed to ask what the hell was gooing on.

"We're getting you out of there," Edward told me as the trees whistled past. "Those guys want to eat you, you're not safe."

"Really? They seemed alright to me."

Edward stopped in front of this huge, four wheel drive car, opend a door and threw me in. He quickly strapped about a gazillion seatbelts around me, then hopped into another seat. Alice was next to him and Emmett was driving. We set off lumbering through the trees, and I was jostled every which way.

"So let me get this straight," I said. "Those guys want to eat me, even though they gave no real indication."

"Yes."

"And we're driving away in this car, even though we seemed to go much faster by running."

"Yes."

"And we have no real plan in mind."

"Yes."

I sighed and placed my head in my hands. Why were all these vampires morons?

"Shouldn't we have a plan in place before we start leaping to conclusions?" I asked.

"Oh we do, Izzy," Edward said, patting my knee and smiling. "You just have to get home, tell your father you're running away and break his heart at the same time, drive all the way down to Phoenix, put your mother and friends in danger, almost get killed, and then let me rescue you and save the day."

I looked at him.

"Edward that's retarded."

"Why?" he said, drooping.

"Well first of all, I'm not horrible enough to hurt my father like that. Secondly, why should I drive to Phoenix when it's so much easier to fly? Thirdly, if there's even a chance my mother or friends would be in danger then I'm not doing it. Fourthly, why should you be the one to save me. And Fifthly, why the fuck would I do any of this? I've no evidince that I'm in danger at all!"

There was a small cough and Edward and I both turned. Alice was smiling. "Well, the thing is, most vampires jump at a chance to drink human blood. Plus, that light haired vampire was called James, he's a very skilled tracker, fond of the hunt. We think he might try going after you so we're getting you out of here before he has a chance to start."

"...So we're running away from a skilled tracker who loves to hunt?" I asked.

They nodded.

"Don't you see a small flaw in the plan?" I asked, looking around deperately. They looked back at me blankly.

"What are talking about?" Emmett asked from the front seat. "It's perfect."

"Well, just for one small thing."

"What's that?"

"HE'LL JUST FOLLOW ME ANYWAY, IF HE'S SUCH A GREAT TRACKER!"

I took deep breathes for a few moments, watching Edward. Realisation slowly dawned on him.

"Oh... Right," he said. "I'll just uh... Call Carlisle."

He pulled his phone out of his pocket and punched in a few numbers. He grinned at me as it rang.

"Hey Carlisle, it's Edward. Listen, Izzy thinks there's a problem with the plan. ... Yeah, that's what Emmett said. ... Yeah, I know, but Izzy thinks it's stupid. ... Well, she seems to think that this guy will manage to follow her anyway. ... Hm... Yeah... Okay... Right, cool. Thanks."

He hung up, saying "Okay guys, change of plan."

"Great," I sighed. "What's gonna happem now?"

"We're going to drive to New York, not Phoenix."

"What?"

"Fine, we'll fly there. Jeez."


	15. Can We Go Now?

**I am writing this when I'm supposed to be studying for a maths test. Sshh. Consider it an apology for being so slow in updating. Studying takes up so much time. -.-**

"Right, so remember the plan. You go in there, yell at your father and break his heart, then run back out here and hop in the car. Oh wait! I had a brilliant idea! Did your mother say anything particularly emotive when she left with you that first time? Maybe you could repeat it! Really drive home that you're leaving!" Edward grinned in eagerness at this plan and nodded to himself. I sat in the car just long enough to raise one eyebrow, then got out of the car and strode towards the house.

"Hey, Dad!" I called as I shut the front door behind me. Charlie was in the kitchen with the spaghetti he'd made himself. He waved as I walked to the stairs.

"Hi Izzy," he smiled. "Did you have a nice time?"

"It was alright," I shrugged.

I walked up the stairs to my room and quietly shut the door behind me. Making sure that the curtains were fully closed and that no peeping vampire eyes could see, I stripped down to my underwear and picked some new clothes out of my cupboard. Little dress and heels don't exactly go with a cross-country flee, you know? After I'd changed into my jeans, boots and jacket I pulled up the floorboards in my cupboard and pulled out a large duffel bag I'd prepared earlier. Always be prepared, am I right? You never know when a crazy vampire might decide to hunt you down, or when a must see band is going to appear a few towns over.

I pulled out the bag and lugged it downstairs, thumping it quite badly on the way. When I reached the hall, Charlie was leaning against the kitchen door with a bemused expression on his face.

"Going somewhere?" he asked, eyeing the bag.

"A friend of mine is turning 21 and we're having a party for him. It's a while away, but I promised I'd be there."

Charlie nodded. Then he said, "Do you have your phone?"

"Yep," I nodded, tapping my pocket.

"Do you have your pepper spray?"

"Yep," I nodded, tapping my other pocket.

"Have fun dear," he said, kissing my forehead and wandering back into the kitchen. With a grin I hoisted the bag over my shoulder and headed out the door to my truck.

After I'd hurled my back into the back, climbed in, and driven a few blocks I heard the door click open and I turned to see Edward clambering into the passenger seat. I had a quick vision of swerving suddenly and hurling him out the open door, but managed to suppress it. Instead, I gave a glittering smile to his pouting face.

"You didn't break his heart," Edward said reproachfully.

"No," I said. "That's because your plan was idiotic, cruel and pointless. Think about it. If my father thinks I've run away, he'd be far more likely to call and make sure I'm fine. If he thinks I'm out with friends then he won't call."

"My parents call when I'm at a party," Edward muttered.

"Oh really? When was the last time you went to a party, Edward?"

There was a pause.

"Well... You know, vampires tend to be solitary creatures and large gatherings aren't usually high on their agendas... I could go to a party, if I wanted to."

"Sure," I say, turning to face the road. After a pause, "Where exactly am I meant to be going?"

"Hm? Oh, you're meeting up with Alice in about a mile. We're gonna switch you're clothes with Esme, then switch cars, then switch cars again, then switch clothes with a hitchhiker we'll pick up somewhere, then dress you as a Norwegian transvestite goat herd and smuggle you across the Mexican border in a large can of tomato soup. The plan's foolproof."

"Edward? I mean this in the nicest way possible... Wait no I don't. Edward, would you mind telling me why all of these plans are incredibly over the top? And... Quite illogical?"

Edward thinks for a minute, then shrugs. "We're vampires. This is what we do."

"Right," I nod. "Well, I'm just gonna suggest we maybe forgo the soup and transvestie thing. How about we just switch cars?"

"And clothes," Edward says. "So we can get rid of your smell."

"These clothes are clean on. I washed then last night."

"Ah! But your scent will already have seeped into them, you see."

"So won't my scent seep into Esme's clothes too?"

"... No?"

I sigh, and shake my head. Then I remember my duffel bag. "Edward, you know that bag in the back? Could you reach round and get out a small plastic tub in there? Thanks."

Obediently, he does so and comes back with a tupperware lunchbox with 'Keep Out' scribbled on the lid. When he opens it, he finds a pack of cigarettes, a few pre-prepared spliffs and a six pack of beer. He looks shocked.

"You know what I want you to do with those?"

"Oh, of course Izzy!" he exclaims. "I shall throw these away at once! A young, innocent youth such as yourself should not have to touch these vulgar things. I imagine it was that Mike who secreted them in your bag, he'd do something like that. No doubt, an attempt to break us up!"

"Edward don't be a prick," I snap. "Those are mine. I want you to go to Esme and make her light a few cigarettes, spliffs and maybe chug a beer. That should make her smell reasonably like me. And, actually while they're here."

I pick up a cigarette and stick it in my mouth, indicating to Edward to pass me a lighter. He does so and I light the cigarette, taking a slow puff. As I exhale, Edward looks disapproving. I shrug.

"Don't make that face Edward. If you get to spy on me when I'm sleeping, then I get to smoke this cigarette."

He perks up a bit, smiling. "Does this mean I can watch you-"

"No. But I still get to smoke."

"But-"

"No."

"But-"

"No."

"But-"

"No."


	16. Don't Call Me That

**I'll say straight off, this one isn't as funny as other chapters, that's not what I was going for. I just wanted to correct some of the stupidity of the original. 'Kay, enjoy.**

**If you have any criticism, please tell me in a review.**

Who would've thought that running halfway across the country to escape a deranged vampire would be so tiring?

We ended up going to Phoenix after all, since there were no spaces on any of the flights leaving for New York. Edward leaned over the ticket desk and started flirting like crazy with the woman there, but it seemed that no amount of undone shirt buttons would magic up a few extra seats. So, we went back to plan A and bought the last three tickets back to Phoenix.

It was decided that I would go with Alice and Jasper, since Alice would be able to see into the future and work out what was going on and Jasper... I don't know why Jasper was coming. I assumed it was because he was going out with Alice and the two wanted to jump each others bones as soon as they were out of sight of their parents. So I shook of a sobbing Edward and waved good bye to the rest of the Cullens and boarded the plane.

"So what are we going to do now?" I asked Alice as we flew through the air.

Alice thought for a moment. "Well... Edward and Emmett are going to search for James and that little group. Esme, Carlisle and Rosalie are going to drive around in your car and pretend to be you to try and put him off. I guess we'll just wait in Phoenix for a bit."

"Could I meet up with some friends?" I asked hopefully, but Alice looked shocked.

"Of course not! James might be watching. You're going to have to stay inside the hotel room until Edward finds James. We have to make sure you're safe."

I sighed and slumped down in my chair, scowling out the window. This daring escape didn't really have the same excitement that they had in the movies, in fact it was getting rather tedious already. Just sit in this car, now sit in this plane, now sit in this hotel room while the vampires take care of everything. It was like they thought I couldn't handle it. I mean, I know I wasn't all that strong or fast, and I didn't really wear the right clothes for fighting. Plus, I was nowhere near as strong or as fast as any of the vampires. In fact, now that I thought about it, they'd probably be too busy trying to protect me to focus on fighting James... Yeah, I should just sit in the hotel and let them handle it. Damn.

I closed my eyes and slept most of the journey. Alice and Jasper wandered up and down the plaane, checking and double-checking that there were no evil vampires on board. Then, when we landed, they raced me out the airport and into a rental car. It was just a little silver ford, something discrete so we didn't attract attention. I blinked out the window as we sped through the familiar streets, trying to catch a glimpse of someone I knew.

"My friend Amy lives down that street," I said, pointing to a road lined with trees and large houses. Jasper raised his eyebrows in appreciation and Alice nodded. I squinted off into the distance. Was that girl down there Amy? But, before I could get a good look, the car turned right and the street disappeared from view.

The hotel we were staying in was a really big, really expensive one with a spa, huge pool and palm trees everywhere. A group of concierges were practically falling over each other to get a room for us, and although I felt slightly uncomfortable about it Alice and Jasper took it in their stride. Obviously, they had a lot more experience with these sorts of hotels than I did. The rooms themselves were also huge, too big if you ask me. Just give me a bed and a shower, the rest is excessive.

With a sigh, I threw myself down onto my bed. "So, this is where we're going to be spending the rest of our time for the forseeable future?" I asked.

"Yup," Jasper said, sitting next to me. "I must say you're being remarkably calm about this."

"Give it a moment to sink in," I told him. "I'm still not entirely sure this isn't a dream. I'm sure I'll start freaking out soon enough."

"Hey Izzy?" Alice called from the other side of the room. She'd picked up a brochure from the hotel and was leafing through it. "You hungry? We can order room service, if you want."

"You know, I am actually quite hungry," I said, suddenly realising that I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast the previous day. The Cullens didn't have any food of course, and I'd slept through all the meals on the plane. Damnit, why didn't I have some of Charlie's spagghetti just before I left?

"Alice," I said from my position on the bed. "Please order me the biggest, juciest steak this place has. And... Whatever their chocolatiest pudding is."

. . .

After a few days of sitting in the hotel room I was getting stir crazy. Alice tried to break the boredom with trips to the spa and pool, but it was no good. She was extremely excited about everything. It was too much. And as for Jasper. Well, Alice said he felt uncomfortable around humans since he had a bit of trouble resisting human blood. Apparently it was all he could do not to rip open my throat and drink me dry. Then, since Alice said I wasn't allowed to prick my finger and have Jasper drink my blood, there was absolutely nothing to do.

So I decided to phone up one of my friends and see if I could sneak out. Sure, it was reckless and I'd probably end up getting killed, but hell anything beat sitting in a hotel room with a hyperactive vampire and her constantly uncomfortable boyfriend. I waited until both of them had gone out, then I dug my phone out of Alice's suitcase. She'd confiscated i, saying that I'd be too tempted to call someone. And I was tempted. Tempted enough to get it from her awful hiding place (in her makeup bag).

I locked myself in the bathroom and turned it on, thinking who I should call first. But, before I could do anything, it started ringing. I blinked in confusion at the blocked ID, then pressed the answer button and held it to my ear.

"Bella? Bella?" came a scared voice.

"What? Mum? Is that you?" I recognised her voice, but I was confused. Why was she calling me Bella? I hadn't been called Bella since I was ten.

"Bella? Bella?"

"Mum, what's going on?"

"Hello Bella," said another voice, a male voice. I blinked, recognising it.

"James, right?"

"Very good Bella," the vampire said. "As you heard, I have your mother. Now, if you don't want any harm to come to her, you'll do exactly as I say."

"Alright," I said, frowning. I hated the name Bella. James told me that I had to come to a dance studio down the road from my house. I remembered it, I used to take ballet classes there when I was a kid. I hung up, then stared at my phone for a moment or two. After a bit of thought, I typed in a number, then held the phone up to my ear.

"Hello?" said a voice.

"Mum?" I said.

"Oh, Izzy? How are you dear?"

"I'm... Good. Uh, where are you?"

"Me? I'm in Florida, dear. The weather's lovely. What about you? Your father said you were at a friend's party? Are you having fun?"

"Yeah. Yeah it's real fun," I said, frowning. "Listen, I really just called for a quick hello so I've got to go now. I'll call you later."

"Alright dear, have fun," mum said. I hung up, then put the phone down. I sat in thought for a while, puzzling over what had just happened. Then, it came to me.

"Oh, that bastard," I said, getting to my feet. "Oh, I'll get him."


	17. A Dream Come True

**And here is the penultimate chapter! Dun da da da dunnnnn!**

**Yep, it's drawing to a close. BUT never fear. After this story there will be... A Sequel! Hurrah! Let me know if you'd be willing to read that :)**

**Thanks, and if you have any criticism please tell me in a review or message.**

* * *

I pushed open the door and walked into the empty building, my boots echoing on the wooden floors. The lights were all turned off and it took a few moments for my eyes to adjust. When they did though, I found myself in an entrance hall, tiny coat hooks aranged along the walls. I dimly remembered hanging my own coat up on one of these hooks before a ballet lesson. Yeah, I took ballet lessons. I was five, I thought they were cool.

"Bella? Bella?" A voice that sounded quite like my mother's reached me from the next room. I sighed and walked forwards.

"Oh my god mum is that you are you alright I am so scared for your safety," I drawled in a bored, monotonous voice. I knew this entire thing was faked, I wasn't going to bother acting. I stepped into the large dance hall, only to find that (surprise surprise) it was empty. Instead, a television was set up in the middle of the room.

"Oh me, oh my," I said, rolling my eyes. "It seems I have been fooled. This is not my mother at all it is instead a video of our trip to the beach so many years ago. My mother is not scared because she is about to be killed by an evil vampire, she is actually scared because when the video was being taken I was missing. How silly of me not to realise. What a foolish fool I am. Dear me."

I flicked off the TV and looked round. There was no sign of a vampire, evil or otherwise. That didn't surprise me though, from what I had seen they could hide really well. Edward had been able to hide outside my bedroom window, hadn't he? So I started walking round the room, speaking loudly so that James could here.

"You're not as good a hunter as I thought you were," I told him. "This trap of yours was very shoddily done. I made a list of all the mistakes you made, would you like to hear them?"

No reply came, which I took to mean yes. So, I cleared my throat and started to list them off.

"Number one, you didn't check up on my mother. You obviously would have had to go to my home to pick up this video tape, and I imagine this would have shown you that the house was empty. _Empty_. My mother is not in Phoenix at the moment, she's in Florida. You'd think you might have thought of that, but no. You obviously didn't take her into account at all. All it took was a little phone call and it became obvious that she was perfectly safe. Nice work.

"Number two, I haven't been called Bella in years. My name is Izzy, please remember that in future. The discrepancy in names was enough to tip me off that something was wrong with this whole thing. Do your research, seriously.

"Number three, you underestimated me. I'm not just some moron who sits about at home and let the vampires do everything. I'm not just some ditz who gives her whole life and family up for a boy. I'm Izzy Swan, and I'm very VERY smart. Smart enough to figure this whole thing out. Then again, it didn't take much work."

"So why did you bother coming?"

I jumped and whirled round to find myself face to face with James. He was leaning against the wall and regarding me with a cold, hateful impression. You know, the exact kind of look someone has when they're about to kill you. He looked... Well, he looked like a vampire. It was quite refreshing.

I smiled and nodded. "I came because I have something to ask you. I favour."

"Why would I grant you a favour?" he said with disgust. "I could kill you and drain your blood before you had time to react."

I kept smiling. "I don't doubt that, but I really do want this."

I coughed nervously, feeling myself blush. Here I was, standing in the middle of a deserted dance hall with a man who wanted to kill me. I certainly didn't see this coming back when I moved to Forks. I didn't expect to be on the brink of having all my dreams come true.

"I was wondering," I murmured, feeling suddenly shy. "If... When you drank my blood... Instead of killing me, could you just make me a vampire instead?"

I glanced up and found James staring incredulously at me. I gathered from his expression that his prey had never asked him this before. I took a hopeful step forward.

"If you're going to turn me into a vampire, could you do it quickly?" I asked, pushing my hair back from my neck. "Only, I'm pretty sure Edward and some other people are on their way here to kill you. It would be unfortunate if you died before biting me."

James didn't move. "You want to become a vampire?"

"Yeah."

"Seriously?"

"...Yeah."

"Why?"

I slammed my palm into my face. Not another person who wanted to know why. Why did nobody get this? "Because they're cool!" I groaned. "You have super abilities and you're strong and you're fast and you fucking drink human blood. That is seriously fucking cool. I want to join you. I want to be beautiful and young forever. Is that so hard for everybody to understand? I want to be a vampire."

James blinked in surprise. Then he grinned. "Very well then," he said with a laugh. "I am not one to turn down so willing a victim. I'm sure you will be a welcome edition to our coven, Miss Swan."

"You're damn right," I muttered, stepping forward. James took his hand and raised it to his mouth. I frowned. Was he going to kiss me? Then, I gasped. James had sunk his teeth into my hand, releasing a burst of venom into my blood stream. I felt my hand go cold and my legs give way beneath me. A laugh burst from my lips. Then-

"Izzy!" a voice yelled. I looked up to see the windows along the room burst open as Edward, followed by the rest of his family, leapt into the room. With a roar of fury, Edward launched himself at James and knocked him to the floor. I sat, watching them sparring. The other members of the family quickly joined in and it wasn't long before James was ripped to shreds. It was barely a fight at all really. Kinda anti-climactic. I huffed in annoyance.

"Izzy, are you alright?" I heard Edward say. He had sat down beside me and was supporting me, his arm round my waist.

"No," I humphed into his shoulder. "No I'm not alright. You-"

"Oh my God, Izzy! You're hand! You've been bitten!" Edward grabbed my hand and held it to his face. Blood was pouring down my hand onto my arm. I blinked at it, not comprehending. I had been about to say that Edward had ruined everything by jumping in and killing James before he could kill me. I had wanted to call him a moron, tell him that I hated him. I had wanted to tell him to get his filthy hands off me and that we were no longer going out.

Instead, all I managed to say was, "Fuck. That is really sore."

Then I passed out.


	18. Back to Reality

**And here we have the final chapter. I've really enjoyed writing this.**

**However, stay tuned because there's a sequel on the way!**

**I really hope you've enjoyed Crepuscular Light.**

**Thanks for reading. ^.^**

* * *

I was woken up by the sound of a heart monitor beeping slowly. The first thing I noticed was that I was lying in an unfamiliar and uncomfortable bed with itchy sheets and a lumpy pillow. Then I noticed that my right leg felt heavy and my left hand felt cold. Then I noticed that I was wearing one of those papery robes you get given in hospital. Then I opened my eyes and noticed that Edward was leaning over me and staring into my eyes.

"Gah!" I yelped, jerking away. I sat bolt upright and looked around. We were in a small, white hospital room with some machines blinking by my bedsie. Through some windows I saw into a large ward where several doctors were wondering around seeing to patients. So I was in hospital then, hooked up to some machines. And doctors had most likely looked me over. That probably meant that I wasn't a vampire. Damn, and I was so close.

"I'm so glad you're awake," Edward said, making me look round. He was leaning forward with a smile on his face. "I was getting quite worried. I sucked the venom out of you as much as I could, but I thought you were gone anyway. I thought that the venom had taken affect and you had become a vampire. Luckily, nothing so awful happened to you. You're still a wonderful, beautiful human being!"

"Yeah, I am," I sighed, sinking back into the bed. So Edward had sucked the venom out of me and kept me human. Great, so the one time he had acted like a vampire and sucked out my bodily fluid, it had been the wrong fluid! I held my hands up in front of my face to look at where James had bitten me. With a pang of joy I saw that there was a scar on my hand! A small, bite shaped line across the back of my palm. I laughed and sat back up.

"Edward," I said, not looking at him. "Why did you bring me to a hospital? Did I lose a lot of blood or something?"

"Well... Yes," he said, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand. "That and... You have a broken leg."

"What?" I looked down and saw that my right leg, from my foot up to my knee, was encased in plaster. I frowned at this, trying to think of when I'd broken it. I couldn't remember anything happening with James.

I looked at Edward who didn't meet my gaze. He coughed. "Well, the thing is... When I was sucking out the venom, I also tasted some of your blood. It was very good, I liked it... But, I got a little bit over excited and I may have grabbed your body and I may have broked your leg with my hand."

I blinked in surprise. "So basically, you started getting freaky with my unconcious body, got too excited, then splintered by bones with your bare hand?"

"That's not the way I'd put it," Edward huffed, folding his arms. I opened my mouth to say something back, but there was a scuffle from the outside ward and I turned round just as the door into my room burst open. Four people fell through the door. First, a girl with round face, blonde ringlets and a pink dress. Then, a boy with a pointed face, black and purple hair in his face, and guyliner. Behind them was a boy with a ripped shirt and bright blue hair. Then, bringing up the rear, a tall, pale boy with teased, black hair and hooked nose. I smiled widely and sat up straighter.

"Hey guys, long time no see."

"Overstatement," Amy said, pulling me into a hug. She was wearing some strawberry perfume and smelled amazing. I took several deep breaths before letting her go.

"We really missed you," Steven said, pushing Amy to one side to hug me. "Did you notice how I died my hair purple to match yours? I missed you so much. How come I only get to see you when you're in hospital?"

"Because you're exceedingly unlucky," I told him, patting his back. "Um... Steven, you can let go now."

"I don't want to," Steven pouted, squeezing tighter.

"She's sick man, leave off," Lewis snapped, pulling him off of me. "But it's really good to see you." He hugged me too, then stepped back. I looked about for my fourth friend, only to see him hunched at the end of my bed.

"Jason, what are you doing?" I asked, leaning forward. Jason was hunched over my plastered foot, doing something I couldn't see. After a moment, he straightened up and clicked closed the pen he was holding.

"There," he grinned. "I'm the first to sign your cast so I've made my mark. You'll never be able to forget us now."

"But that's the base of my foot, I can't see it."

"Oh. Yeah. I'll sign where you can see it then."

"Hey, no! I want to sign it too!" Steven hopped to the end of the bed and snatched the pen from Jason. The two of them started writing all over my cast. I laughed and sat back in bed. Amy and Lewis sat next to me, smiling.

"So, how've you been," Amy asked, leaning over to plump up my pillows. "And what are you doing back in Phoenix?"

"I... Uh..." I thought for moment, trying to come up with a story. "Well, I was coming back to see all of you. But, I had a bit of an accident on the way."

"That sucks," Amy sighed. "But at least we get to see you."

"Yeah, how did you know I was here?" I asked.

"Some little, black haired girl came and dragged us out of school. She said you were in hospital here," Lewis told me. He thought for a moment. "She was quite pretty actually."

"Has a boyfriend," I told him.

"Oh. Are they serious?"

"Pretty serious. Been together for years."

"Damn." Lewis thought for another moment. "And would you mind telling us who that is?" He pointed over my shoulder, and I looked round. Edward was slumped in a chair, pretending to sleep. His chest was rising and falling, making it look pretty realistic.

"Oh, that's Edward. A friend of mine," I said offhandedly. At the word 'friend' Edward gave a minute twitch of his lip.

"He's cute," Amy said in a low voice. "Is he your boyfriend?"

I thought for a moment, thinking back on everything that had happened. On the one hand, he was possessive, a stalker, snobbish, and didn't have any of the same interests as me. On the other hand, he was rich, handsome, intelligent, and he really seemed to care about my wellbeing. Plus, he was a vampire. I just had to work out if I still wanted to date him. I sat in silence for a moment, then shook my head.

"No," I said with a sigh. "No, we had a date or two, but that's it. He's too complicated."

"So can I date him?" Amy asked hopefully.

"I wouldn't recommend it," I told her, patting her arm. "You should get a nice, normal boy instead." I glanced back over at Edward. He seemed tenser than before. But I'd expect that from someone who'd just been dumped. I dimly wondered for a brief moment if he'd ever been dumped before, then Amy started talking and I turned to listen.

"We called your mum, let her knew you were alright," Amy was saying. "She had some news. Um... She said that she and Phil had gotten a house over in Florida and you can move over there if you want to."

Amy sat back, chewing her bottom lip. Florida would be even further away from Phoenix than Forks. I placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder, squeezing it.

"I won't move to Florida," I told her with a smile. "I've actually quite settled into Forks, I like it there. I think I'm going to stay up there for now."

"Oh, Izzy. Really?"

I blinked and turned round. Edward had stopped pretending to sleep and was now standing by the bed, smiling at me like a child on Christmas morning. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into a hug. Have you ever tried hugging a statue? Because that's what this felt like. Cold, hard and very uncomfortable. I awkwardly patted Edward on the back.

"Izzy, you're going to stay in Forks. I'm so glad," Edward was saying, stroking my hair. I looked round and found four pairs of eyes watching me. "I know I've been a fool in the past, and I'm sorry. If you want to take some time apart, that's fine. But I will try my hardest to be the best boyfriend in the world and then we will be together forever and ever. Oh, I love you so much Izzy."

"Okay," I said, patting Edward's arm. "Okay, you said the L word. Don't think we're ready for that."

"But Izzy, how could I not say it? We were meant for each other, we're soul mates."

"We had three dates."

"Three _stupendous_ dates."

"Let go of me."

"As you wish."

Edward let go and took a step back, beaming at me. I looked up at him, an incredulous expression plastered across my face. Then I glanced round at my friends. Jason raised an eyebrow; Steven was gaping at Edward; Lewis was looking at the two of us in confusion; and Amy was stifling a giggle. I looked back at the vampire, who was still smiling. I hadn't been lying earlier when I said that I felt at home in Forks. I liked living with my father, I liked the house, I liked my school mates. The only thing that I didn't like about Forks was Edward. Now it seemed that he was going to be even worse. This was not going to be good.

"Edward," I said.

"Yes, my love?"

"I'm quite thirsty, could you get me a drink?"

"Of course, Izzy. What flavour would you like? Blackcurrant? Lemon? Orange?"

"Surprise me."

"Of course!"

Edward almost tripped over his own feet in his eagerness to go out the door. I watched him leave with an exasperated smile. My friends watched him go, then turned to me. Each one had a highly amused look on their face. I shrugged.

"I would go to Florida, but he'd probably follow me there," I sighed.

"Has he always been like that?" Steven asked with a small laugh.

"Pretty much."

"Then why did you agree to go out with him?"

I looked at him, not sure how to answer. I had gone out with Edward because he was incredibly hot, and he was a vampire. Mostly the vampire thing, though. And I couldn't exactly say that to them.

Finally, I shook my head. "I don't know. There's just something about him. Him and his... Mouth... His teeth."

Jason gave a knowing grin. "Good kisser, huh? Does things with his mouth that you wouldn't believe?"

I smiled.

"Something like that."


	19. Disintegrating Dawn

**Well, the sequel is up. Or at least, the first chapter is. It's only a little chapter, just a place setter, but it's up.**

**I've really been looking forward to this sequel, been planning it for ages. If you feel like it, click the link below and read about Izzy getting married, getting pregnant, and getting annoyed.**

**If you don't want to, that's fine. I'm ****merely glad you've stuck with me this ****far.**

**.net/s/7178621/1/**


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